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Washington, D.C., June 17, 2008 -- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) assistant secretary of energy efficiency and renewable energy Andy Karsner announced up to $30 million in funding over three years for three cost-shared plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) demonstration and development projects. The selected projects are designed to accelerate the development of PHEVs capable of traveling up to 40 miles without recharging, which includes most daily roundtrip commutes and satisfies 70 percent of the average daily travel in the U.S. The DOE hopes the projects will address barriers to achieving their goal of making PHEVs cost-competitive by 2014 and ready for commercialization by 2016.
PHEVs are hybrid vehicles that can be driven in electric-only or hybrid modes and recharged from a standard electric outlet. This is the first round of selections under DOE's PHEV Technology Acceleration and Deployment Activity funding opportunity announcement. A second round of applications is due July 18, 2008. The following three projects were selected:
General Motors has been selected for negotiation of an award for a project aimed at enhancement of lithium-ion battery packs, charging systems, powertrain development, vehicle integration, and vehicle validation. Following development, the PHEVs will be deployed over a three year period into a demonstration fleet in three regions of the U.S. Other team members include Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, and the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
Ford Motor Co. has been selected for negotiation of an award for a project to identify a pathway that accelerates commercial mass-production of PHEVs. The project will focus on development of battery systems and deployment of prototype PHEVs. The project will test and demonstrate the propulsion system design, controls, and communications necessary to develop a viable PHEV production program. Team members include Southern California Edison, Electric Power Research Institute, and Johnson Controls-Saft Inc.
General Electric has been selected for negotiation of an award for a demonstration of PHEVs that relies upon an innovative dual-battery energy storage system capable of 40 miles accumulated electric driving range. The project will focus on developing the dual-battery energy storage system in parallel with vehicle integration. GE is partnering with Chrysler for the project.
Karsner made the announcement at the Plug-In Electric Vehicles 2008: What Role for Washington? conference, sponsored by the Brookings Institution and Google.org. The projects selected will be developed between fiscal years 2008-11 and demonstrated in geographically diverse regions to identify performance, operation, and fuel economy in a real-world environment. The goal is to develop PHEVs that can be mass produced, compete effectively in the marketplace, and substantially reduce petroleum consumption by offering fuel flexibility to American consumers. DOE's funding for these projects, which is subject to Congressional appropriations, will be combined with an industry cost share of 50 percent.
In addition to announced projects, DOE expanded its own fleet of alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles with the addition of a Ford Escape plug-in hybrid flex-fuel vehicle, capable of running on E85, 85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline. The new vehicle will be used to transport DOE employees to official events and meetings in the Washington, D.C. area.
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