US National Laboratory R&D Programs in Support of Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicle Batteries

The successful commercialization of Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) can provide significant benefits by reducing the United States' growing dependence on petroleum fuels for transportation; decreasing polluting and greenhouse gas emissions; and facilitating a long-term transition to sustainable renewable energy sources. Recognizing these benefits, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) supports an active program of long-range R&D to develop electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) technologies and to accelerate their commercialization. The DOE Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies (OAAT) supports several innovative R&D programs, conducted in partnership with DOE's national laboratories, industry, other government agencies, universities, and small businesses. The Office has two key R&D cooperative agreements with the U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) to develop high-energy batteries for EVs and high-power batteries for HEVs. The Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT) program is a component of the high-energy batteries program designed to investigate new electrochemistry that offers the potential for improvements in advanced batteries. The Advanced Technology Development (ATD) Program is a component of the high-power batteries program, which addresses barriers for high-power lithium-ion batteries in the areas of calendar life, abuse tolerance, and cost. This paper summarizes the progress of each program.

It describes the technology objectives, technical barriers, the approach for overcoming those barriers and the accomplishments, current status of program activities, and future plans.