Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation and DaimlerChrysler Corporation, as members of the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), today signed cooperative research agreements with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to support continued research and development in the areas of lightweight materials and advanced battery technologies for vehicles.
The agreements, which include DOE funding and industry cost share, represent a total investment potential of $195 million over the next five years. Nearly all of the DOE funding will be passed via subcontracts to suppliers and research institutions through the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) and U.S. Automotive Materials Partnership (USAMP), both consortia of the USCAR.
Today’s $125 million USABC agreement is set for three years with two, one-year continuing options in which the government and industry will share the costs of research. Combined with a $70 million USAMP agreement for lightweight, high-strength materials research, which was initially announced in May, the total joint investment potential in vehicle technologies is $195 million over the next five years.
As part of the USABC agreement, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) FreedomCAR Program will split the cost of research and development for a number of new battery materials and technologies that have the potential to increase energy storage and charge/discharge performance, improve durability and reliability and reduce cost.
The DOE/USCAR partnership has been ongoing for more than 10 years. One of its major accomplishments has been the development of the nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery technology used in current, commercially available, light-duty hybrid electric vehicles. In addition, USABC is pursuing the development of advanced lithium ion systems. This emerging technology offers the promise of compact, longer-life, high power and high energy batteries for electric, hybrid-electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles.
USABC provides a unique opportunity for battery developers to leverage their resources in combination with those of the automotive industry and the federal government. This pre-competitive cooperation minimizes duplication of effort and risk of failure, and maximizes the benefits to the public of government funds.
Similarly, DOE’s FreedomCAR Program and USAMP will split the cost of research and development for a number of new materials and technologies that will reduce weight without compromising durability, reliability, and safety of vehicles.
Improved manufacturing and use of advanced high-strength steel can reduce vehicle weight by 15 to 25 percent. The research will also work to develop new alloys of aluminum, magnesium and titanium to be used in vehicle framing, body, powertrain and engine components. Beyond metals, new materials for use in car manufacturing such as carbon fiber and polymer matrix composites could produce weight reductions from 25 and up to 70 percent.
USCAR facilitates cooperative research among DaimlerChrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation, which share the common goal of strengthening the technology base of the U.S. automotive industry.
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