The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $5.0 million to the University of Michigan to enable academic researchers and students nationwide to access the world’s first cloud-based, augmented-reality testbed for connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies. The award will expand the university’s original CAV proving ground, known as Mcity... Read more →

Volvo Cars and Northvolt will open a joint research and development (R&D) center in Gothenburg as part of a SEK 30 billion (US$3.3 billion) investment in battery development and manufacturing. The R&D center, which will become operational in 2022, will create a few hundred jobs in Gothenburg and positions Volvo... Read more →

The cost of Li-ion batteries has plunged some 97% since their introduction three decades ago—a rate similar to the drop in solar panel prices. A team at MIT has analyzed what has accounted for the extraordinary savings and found that by far the biggest single factor was work on research... Read more →

A new white paper published by the Argonne National Laboratory Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) outlines a clear set of battery requirements and research and development needs to accelerate the commercialization of electric propulsion for aviation—from air taxis in the near term to 737 class aircraft in the... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Energy recently announced the Energy Earthshots Initiative aimed at accelerating breakthroughs of more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions within the decade. The first Energy Earthshot, launched 7 June—Hydrogen Shot—seeks to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per 1... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding $60 million to 24 research and development projects aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions from passenger cars and light- and heavy-duty trucks. (DE-FOA-0002420) The projects will help decarbonize the transportation sector and enhance the infrastructure needed to support the growing adoption of... Read more →

A new $5-million program to be led by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, is intended to strengthen development of Australia’s hydrogen industry by supporting research, development and demonstration (RD&D) collaborations with international research organisations. The two-year Hydrogen RD&D International Collaboration Program is a key element in CSIRO’s recently-launched Hydrogen Industry... Read more →

The European Commission’s Joint Research Center recently published a report analyzing research and innovation (R&I) in low-emission alternative energy for transport in Europe. The analysis focuses on selected EU-funded projects from TRIMIS with end dates from 2019 onwards. The Transport Research and Innovation Monitoring and Information System (TRIMIS) is the... Read more →

Toyota Research Institute (TRI) is committing another $36 million to its Accelerated Materials Design and Discovery (AMDD) collaborative university research program over the next four years. In early 2017, TRI announced the formation of AMDD and launched the program with the mission of using AI to find new materials for... Read more →

The California Energy Commission’s (CEC) latest annual report on the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program highlights how public-interest research is helping California meet its goal of decarbonizing the electrical system by 2045. EPIC is California’s premier clean energy research and development program. Each year, more than $130 million in... Read more →

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted its Triennial Strategic Research Plan. The plan serves as a roadmap for research planning for fiscal years 2021-2024, and ensures that CARB’s research portfolio addresses policy and program needs. The Triennial Plan guides CARB’s annual selection of research contracts, which are fulfilled through... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) will award up to $30 million to support scientific research that will ensure US businesses can reliably tap into a domestic supply of critical elements and minerals—specifically rare earth elements (REE) and platinum group elements (PGE)—needed to produce clean energy technologies. (DE-FOA-0002483) Currently, the... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has begun work on the Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL), a $75-million facility located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington that will boost clean energy adaptation and accelerate the development and deployment of long-duration, low-cost grid energy storage. The planned facility will... Read more →

Auburn University is forming the Auburn University Transportation Research Institute. The institute, hosted and supported within Auburn’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, will provide greater visibility and a shared identity for all transportation-related and educational programs at the university. It will foster continued growth and expansion of the overall transportation... Read more →

President Biden has created a new Climate Innovation Working Group as part of the National Climate Task Force to advance his commitment to launching an Advanced Research Projects Agency-Climate (ARPA-C). The working group is intended to help coordinate and strengthen federal government-wide efforts to foster affordable, game-changing technologies that can... Read more →

The Automotive Supply Chain and Technology team at IHS Markit recently completed a survey among automakers and suppliers across all regions to assess the impact of COVID-19 on Research and Development. The survey focused on the size of research and development (R&D) budget cuts; outsourcing vs. in-sourcing of R&D activities;... Read more →

Three scientists from the University of Chicago predict that there may be a way to make a material that could conduct both electricity and energy with 100% efficiency—never losing any to heat or friction. Their work, published in Physical Review B, suggests a framework for an entirely new type of... Read more →

On 14 May 2018, BMW Group officially obtained the Shanghai Intelligent Connected Autonomous Driving Test License, issued by the Intelligent Connected Vehicle Road Test Promotion Team—consisting of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau and Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission. The BMW Group thus has become... Read more →

ECS (The Electrochemical Society), in partnership with the Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA), a division of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA), is requesting proposals from young professors and scholars pursuing innovative electrochemical research in green energy technology. Electrochemical research has already informed the development... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) carries out controlled human inhalation exposure (CHIE) studies in which volunteer participants agree to be intentionally exposed by inhalation to specific pollutants at restricted concentrations over short periods to obtain important information about the effects of outdoor air pollution on human health. A new... Read more →

The Trump Administration has released its “America First” budget blueprint for the FY 2018 budget. The core of the blueprint is a $54-billion increase in defense spending in 2018 that is offset by targeted reductions in other areas. For the Department of Energy (DOE), the blueprint requests $28.0 billion—a $1.7-billion... Read more →

Honda R&D Co., Ltd., the R&D subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., plans to create “R&D Center X,” a new research and development operation within the company, which will assume responsibility for “new value” areas that include robotics technology, mobility system and energy management, etc. The official establishment of R&D... Read more →

Toyota will establish its third Toyota Research Institute (TRI) facility in the US. The new facility will be located in Ann Arbor, near the University of Michigan (U-M) campus where it will fund research in artificial intelligence, robotics and materials science. Joining the TRI facility established last January in Palo... Read more →

The US Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) have released a request for information (RFI) (DE-FOA-0001460) titled “Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines” (Optima). The Optima program is a key collaborative initiative being pursued by EERE, VTO,... Read more →

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) will be investing approximately $50 million over the next 5 years to establish joint research centers at Stanford and MIT, focused on the research and development of intelligent vehicle and mobility technologies. Additionally Dr. Gill Pratt, former Program Manager at DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) will award $10 million to eight incubator projects to develop innovative solutions for efficient and environmentally-friendly vehicle technologies that will help reduce petroleum use in the United States. Among the projects is a novel implementation of RCCI—Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition, usually investigated with two... Read more →

A new NSF-funded Industry/University Collaborative Research Center (I/UCRC) at Penn State and Rice University will study the design and development of advanced coatings based on two-dimensional (2D) layered materials to solve fundamental scientific and technological challenges that include: corrosion, oxidation and abrasion, friction and wear, energy storage and harvesting, and... Read more →

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems (CBET) has issued a new $4.8-million funding opportunity announcement (PD 15-1401) to advance research in catalytic engineering science and to promote the development of beneficial catalytic materials and reactions. Research in the Catalysis and Biocatalysis program should... Read more →

Honda officially opened its new Silicon Valley R&D facility, using the occasion to unveil a refreshed 2016 Accord featuring Honda’s first application of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Honda also announced a new open innovation R&D initiative—Honda Xcelerator—which will provide resources to breakthrough technology innovators to help rapidly develop prototypes... Read more →

The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship Selection Committee has selected three recipients who will receive $50,000 each for the inaugural fellowships for projects in green energy technology. The winners are Professor Patrick Cappillino, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth; Professor Yogesh (Yogi) Surendranath, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Professor David Go, University... Read more →

Stanford University has launched a new research initiative to study comprehensively the development and use of natural gas. The new program will expand Stanford’s research on energy and the environment by focusing additional resources on the growing importance of natural gas. US production has risen almost 50% in the past... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Company and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have signed an agreement intended to strengthen the automaker’s US research and development portfolio. The MOU is an expression of intent and does not create a legally binding obligation, nor does it commit funds from either party.... Read more →

A trans-European collaboration aims to develop a novel energy efficient climate control system to help reduce the energy used for passenger comfort in electric vehicles by at least 50%. Even in today’s modern electric vehicles, a lot of energy is wasted on heating or cooling, in turn limiting the already... Read more →

The US Department of Energy announced $75 million in funding to renew the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), a DOE Energy Innovation Hub originally established in 2010 with the goal of harnessing solar energy for the production of fuel. (Earlier post.) Under the renewal plan, the five-year-old center would... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group invested €11.5 billion in research and development last year, more than ever before and more than any other company worldwide. Speaking on the eve of the Geneva International Motor Show, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, underscored the Group’s increasingly aggressive R&D stance: “Volkswagen is... Read more →

The Frontier Research Center (FRC) at Toyota Central R&D Labs in Japan is investigating the development of catalysts controlled at the quantum level. This level of control should result in an an extreme reduction of precious metal usage in automotive exhaust catalysts and/or fuel cells, said Dr. Yoshihide Watanabe, program... Read more →

Scientists have used an X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to get the first glimpse of the transition state where two atoms begin to form a weak bond on the way to becoming a molecule. This fundamental advance, reported in Science and long thought impossible,... Read more →

Ford has opened its new Research and Innovation Center Palo Alto, growing its global research team and accelerating the company’s work in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, customer experience and big data. The new Research and Innovation Center Palo Alto joins Ford’s global network of research and innovation centers, including its... Read more →

ECS, in partnership with the Toyota Research Institute of North American (TRINA), a division of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. (TEMA), has launched the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship and is requesting proposals from young professors and scholars pursuing innovative electrochemical research in green energy technology. The... Read more →

BETO high-level schedule. Click to enlarge. The US Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BTO) has updated its Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP), which delineates the goals and structure of the office. BTO is one of the 10 technology development offices within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends (DE-FOA-0001243) to issue, on behalf of the Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement titled “FY 2015 Vehicle Technologies Office Incubator” (DE-FOA-0001213). The VTO runs a significant R&D portfolio in support of the development... Read more →

More than 600 experts attended Volkswagen Group’s PhD Day, when 95 young scientists presented their research findings at the MobileLifeCampus in Wolfsburg, Germany. PhD students from the Volkswagen Passenger Cars, ŠKODA, Audi, Porsche, MAN and Scania brands as well as from Volkswagen Group China presented their doctoral theses on topics... Read more →

Program overview of Metallurgy Europe as presented in a 2012 position paper from the ESF. Click to enlarge. European industry has launched Metallurgy Europe, a 7-year, €1-billion ($1.3-billion) R&D program in the field of metals research and manufacturing. The program was recently been selected as a new Eureka Cluster, and... Read more →

Jaguar Land Rover announced the creation of two new Centers of Excellence for Engine Combustion Research at two leading UK universities. The £1-million (US$1.6 million) investment will be shared equally between University College London (UCL) and the University of Oxford to support the development of new research facilities and fund... Read more →

With a new $35-million commitment that extends the center’s effort to the 2020s, Toyota’s Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC) is significantly expanding its mission to advance automotive safety research, with a new focus on the challenges and opportunities that evolving vehicle technologies will present over the next decade. CSRC will... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding more than $55 million to 31 new projects to accelerate research and development of vehicle technologies that will improve fuel efficiency and reduce costs under a program-wide funding opportunity announced in January. (DE-FOA-0000991, earlier post.) These new projects are aimed at meeting... Read more →

IBM is investing $3 billion over the next 5 years in two broad research and early stage development programs to push the limits of chip technology needed to meet the emerging demands of cloud computing and “Big Data” systems. Bandwidth to memory, high speed communication and device power consumption are... Read more →

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has issued a grants notice (DTFH6114RA00002) for the award of $8,991,669 (as a 50% cost-share) to maintain for an additional three years the unique connected vehicle research and testing environment the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) developed in Ann Arbor under the... Read more →

by Jack Rosebro At 2:56 AM PST today, NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) was successfully launched into orbit from Space Complex 2 West at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, riding on a two-stage Delta II 7320-10 launch vehicle. Consisting of a single observing instrument, the Observatory is designed to... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding $100 million in the second round of funding for Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs); research supported by this initiative will enable fundamental advances in energy production, storage, and use. The 32 projects receiving funding were competitively selected from more than 200 proposals.... Read more →