II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 734 

To provide for a program of research, development, demonstration, and 

commercial application in vehicle technologies at the Department of Energy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 6 (legislative day, APRIL 5), 2011 

Ms. STABENOW introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide for a program of research, development, demonstration, and commercial application in vehicle technologies at the Department of Energy. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advanced Vehicle 

5 Technology Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) According to the Energy Information Ad9 ministration, the transportation sector accounts for 

10 approximately 28 percent of the United States priVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:00 Apr 07, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S734.IS S734

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1 mary energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions, 

2 and 24 percent of global oil demand. 

3 (2) The United States transportation sector is 

4 over 95 percent dependent on petroleum, and over 

5 60 percent of petroleum demand is met by imported 

6 supplies. 

7 (3) United States heavy truck fuel consumption 

8 will increase 23 percent by 2030, while overall trans9 portation energy use will decline by 1 percent. 

10 (4) The domestic automotive and commercial 

11 vehicle manufacturing sectors have increasingly lim12 ited resources for research, development, and engi13 neering of advanced technologies. 

14 (5) Vehicle, engine, and component manufactur15 ers are playing a more important role in vehicle 

16 technology development, and should be better inte17 grated into Federal research efforts. 

18 (6) Priorities for the Department of Energy’s 

19 vehicle technologies research have shifted drastically 

20 in recent years among diesel hybrids, hydrogen fuel 

21 cell vehicles, and plug-in electric hybrids, with little 

22 continuity among them. 

23 (7) The integration of vehicle, communication, 

24 and infrastructure technologies has great potential 


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1 for efficiency gains through better management of 

2 the total transportation system. 

3 (8) The Federal Government should balance its 

4 role in researching longer-term exploratory concepts 

5 and developing nearer-term transformational tech6 nologies for vehicles. 

7 SEC. 3. OBJECTIVES. 

8 The objectives of this Act are to— 

9 (1) develop United States technologies and 

10 practices that— 

11 (A) improve the fuel efficiency and emis12 sions of all vehicles produced in the United 

13 States; and 

14 (B) reduce vehicle reliance on petroleum15 based fuels; 

16 (2) support domestic research, development, en17 gineering, demonstration, and commercial applica18 tion and manufacturing of advanced vehicles, en19 gines, and components; 

20 (3) enable vehicles to move larger volumes of 

21 goods and more passengers with less energy and 

22 emissions; 

23 (4) develop cost-effective advanced technologies 

24 for wide-scale utilization throughout the passenger, 

25 commercial, government, and transit vehicle sectors; 


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1 (5) allow for greater consumer choice of vehicle 

2 technologies and fuels; 

3 (6) shorten technology development and inte4 gration cycles in the vehicle industry; 

5 (7) ensure a proper balance and diversity of 

6 Federal investment in vehicle technologies; and 

7 (8) strengthen partnerships between Federal 

8 and State governmental agencies and the private 

9 and academic sectors. 

10 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

11 For the purposes of this Act: 

12 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

13 means the Department of Energy. 

14 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

15 the Secretary of Energy. 

16 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

17 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec18 retary for United States research, development, engineer19 ing, demonstration, and commercial application of vehicles 

20 and related technologies, including activities authorized 

21 under this Act, such sums as may be necessary for each 

22 of fiscal years 2012 through 2016. 


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1 TITLE I—VEHICLE RESEARCH 

2 AND DEVELOPMENT 

3 SEC. 101. PROGRAM. 

4 (a) ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary shall conduct a pro5 gram of basic and applied research, development, engi6 neering, demonstration, and commercial application activi7 ties on materials, technologies, and processes with the po8 tential to substantially reduce or eliminate petroleum use 

9 and the emissions of the Nation’s passenger and commer10 cial vehicles, including activities in the areas of— 

11 (1) hybridization or full electrification of vehicle 

12 systems; 

13 (2) batteries and other energy storage devices; 

14 (3) power electronics; 

15 (4) vehicle, component, and subsystem manu16 facturing technologies and processes; 

17 (5) engine efficiency and combustion optimiza18 tion; 

19 (6) waste heat recovery; 

20 (7) transmission and drivetrains; 

21 (8) hydrogen vehicle technologies, including fuel 

22 cells and internal combustion engines, and hydrogen 

23 infrastructure; 

24 (9) compressed natural gas vehicle technologies; 


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1 (10) aerodynamics, rolling resistance, and ac2 cessory power loads of vehicles and associated equip3 ment; 

4 (11) vehicle weight reduction, including 

5 lightweighting materials; 

6 (12) friction and wear reduction; 

7 (13) engine and component durability; 

8 (14) innovative propulsion systems; 

9 (15) advanced boosting systems; 

10 (16) hydraulic hybrid technologies; 

11 (17) engine compatibility with and optimization 

12 for a variety of transportation fuels including nat13 ural gas and other liquid and gaseous fuels; 

14 (18) predictive engineering, modeling, and sim15 ulation of vehicle and transportation systems; 

16 (19) refueling and charging infrastructure for 

17 alternative fueled and electric or plug-in electric hy18 brid vehicles, including the unique challenges facing 

19 rural areas; 

20 (20) gaseous fuels storage systems and system 

21 integration and optimization; 

22 (21) sensing, communications, and actuation 

23 technologies for vehicle, electrical grid, and infra24 structure; 


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1 (22) efficient use, substitution, and recycling of 

2 potentially critical materials in vehicles, including 

3 rare earth elements and precious metals, at risk of 

4 supply disruption; 

5 (23) aftertreatment technologies; 

6 (24) thermal management of battery systems; 

7 (25) retrofitting advanced vehicle technologies 

8 to existing vehicles; 

9 (26) development of common standards, speci10 fications, and architectures for both transportation 

11 and stationary battery applications; 

12 (27) advanced internal combustion engines; and 

13 (28) other research areas as determined by the 

14 Secretary. 

15 (b) TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNOLOGY.—The Sec16 retary shall ensure that the Department continues to sup17 port research, development, engineering, demonstration, 

18 and commercial application activities and maintains com19 petency in mid- to long-term transformational vehicle tech20 nologies with potential to achieve deep reductions in petro21 leum use and emissions, including activities in the areas 

22 of— 

23 (1) hydrogen vehicle technologies, including fuel 

24 cells, internal combustion engines, hydrogen storage, 


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1 infrastructure, and activities in hydrogen technology 

2 validation and safety codes and standards; 

3 (2) multiple battery chemistries and novel en4 ergy storage devices, including nonchemical batteries 

5 and electromechanical storage technologies such as 

6 hydraulics, flywheels, and compressed air storage; 

7 (3) communication and connectivity among ve8 hicles, infrastructure, and the electrical grid; and 

9 (4) other innovative technologies research and 

10 development, as determined by the Secretary. 

11 (c) INDUSTRY PARTICIPATION.—To the maximum 

12 extent practicable, activities under this Act shall be carried 

13 out in partnership or collaboration with automotive manu14 facturers, heavy commercial, vocational, and transit vehi15 cle manufacturers, qualified plug-in electric vehicle manu16 facturers, compressed natural gas vehicle manufacturers, 

17 vehicle and engine equipment and component manufactur18 ers, manufacturing equipment manufacturers, advanced 

19 vehicle service providers, fuel producers and energy sup20 pliers, electric utilities, universities, national laboratories, 

21 and independent research laboratories. In carrying out 

22 this Act the Secretary shall— 

23 (1) determine whether a wide range of compa24 nies that manufacture or assemble vehicles or com25 ponents in the United States are represented in onVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:00 Apr 07, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S734.IS S734

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1 going public private partnership activities, including 

2 firms that have not traditionally participated in fed3 erally sponsored research and development activities, 

4 and where possible, partner with such firms that 

5 conduct significant and relevant research and devel6 opment activities in the United States; 

7 (2) leverage the capabilities and resources of, 

8 and formalize partnerships with, industry-led stake9 holder organizations, nonprofit organizations, indus10 try consortia, and trade associations with expertise 

11 in the research and development of, and education 

12 and outreach activities in, advanced automotive and 

13 commercial vehicle technologies; 

14 (3) develop more efficient processes for trans15 ferring research findings and technologies to indus16 try; 

17 (4) give consideration to conversion of existing 

18 or former vehicle technology development or manu19 facturing facilities for the purposes of this Act; 

20 (5) establish and support public-private part21 nerships, dedicated to overcoming barriers in com22 mercial application of transformational vehicle tech23 nologies, that utilize such industry-led technology de24 velopment facilities of entities with demonstrated ex25 pertise in successfully designing and engineering 


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1 pre-commercial generations of such transformational 

2 technology; and 

3 (6) promote efforts to ensure that technology 

4 research, development, engineering, and commercial 

5 application activities funded under this Act are car6 ried out in the United States. 

7 (d) INTERAGENCY AND INTRAAGENCY COORDINA8 TION.—To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary 

9 shall coordinate research, development, demonstration, 

10 and commercial application activities among— 

11 (1) relevant programs within the Department, 

12 including— 

13 (A) the Office of Energy Efficiency and 

14 Renewable Energy; 

15 (B) the Office of Science; 

16 (C) the Office of Electricity Delivery and 

17 Energy Reliability; 

18 (D) the Office of Fossil Energy; 

19 (E) the Advanced Research Projects Agen20 cy—Energy; and 

21 (F) other offices as determined by the Sec22 retary; and 

23 (2) relevant technology research and develop24 ment programs within other Federal agencies, as de25 termined by the Secretary. 


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1 (e) COORDINATION AND NONDUPLICATION.—In co2 ordinating activities the Secretary shall ensure, to the 

3 maximum extent practicable, that activities do not dupli4 cate those of other programs within the Department or 

5 other relevant research agencies. 

6 (f) FEDERAL DEMONSTRATION OF TECH7 NOLOGIES.—The Secretary shall make information avail8 able to procurement programs of Federal agencies regard9 ing the potential to demonstrate technologies resulting 

10 from activities funded through programs under this Act. 

11 (g) INTERGOVERNMENTAL COORDINATION.—The 

12 Secretary shall seek opportunities to leverage resources 

13 and support initiatives of State and local governments in 

14 developing and promoting advanced vehicle technologies, 

15 manufacturing, and infrastructure. 

16 (h) CRITERIA.—When awarding grants under this 

17 program, the Secretary shall give priority to those tech18 nologies (either individually or as part of a system) that— 

19 (1) provide the greatest aggregate fuel savings 

20 based on the reasonable projected sales volumes of 

21 the technology; and 

22 (2) provide the greatest increase in United 

23 States employment. 


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1 SEC. 102. SENSING AND COMMUNICATIONS TECH2 NOLOGIES. 

3 The Secretary, in coordination with the relevant re4 search programs of other Federal agencies, shall conduct 

5 research, development, engineering, and demonstration ac6 tivities on connectivity of vehicle and transportation sys7 tems, including on sensing, computation, communication, 

8 and actuation technologies that allow for reduced fuel use, 

9 optimized traffic flow, and vehicle electrification, including 

10 technologies for— 

11 (1) onboard vehicle, engine, and component 

12 sensing and actuation; 

13 (2) vehicle-to-vehicle sensing and communica14 tion; 

15 (3) vehicle-to-infrastructure sensing and com16 munication; and 

17 (4) vehicle integration with the electrical grid. 

18 SEC. 103. MANUFACTURING. 

19 The Secretary shall carry out a research, develop20 ment, engineering, demonstration, and commercial appli21 cation program of advanced vehicle manufacturing tech22 nologies and practices, including innovative processes to— 

23 (1) increase the production rate and decrease 

24 the cost of advanced battery manufacturing; 


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1 (2) vary the capability of individual manufac2 turing facilities to accommodate different battery 

3 chemistries and configurations; 

4 (3) reduce waste streams, emissions, and en5 ergy-intensity of vehicle, engine, advanced battery 

6 and component manufacturing processes; 

7 (4) recycle and remanufacture used batteries 

8 and other vehicle components for reuse in vehicles or 

9 stationary applications; 

10 (5) produce cost-effective lightweight materials 

11 such as advanced metal alloys, polymeric composites, 

12 and carbon fiber; 

13 (6) produce lightweight high pressure storage 

14 systems for gaseous fuels; 

15 (7) design and manufacture purpose-built hy16 drogen and fuel cell vehicles and components; 

17 (8) improve the calendar life and cycle life of 

18 advanced batteries; and 

19 (9) produce permanent magnets for advanced 

20 vehicles. 

21 SEC. 104. USER TESTING FACILITIES. 

22 Activities under this Act may include construction, 

23 expansion, or modification of new and existing vehicle, en24 gine, and component research and testing facilities for— 


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1 (1) testing or simulating interoperability of a 

2 variety of vehicle components and systems; 

3 (2) subjecting whole or partial vehicle platforms 

4 to fully representative duty cycles and operating con5 ditions; 

6 (3) developing and demonstrating a range of 

7 chemistries and configurations for advanced vehicle 

8 battery manufacturing; and 

9 (4) developing and demonstrating test cycles for 

10 new and alternative fuels, and other advanced vehi11 cle technologies. 

12 SEC. 105. REPORTING. 

13 (a) TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPED.—Not later than 18 

14 months after the date of enactment of this Act and annu15 ally thereafter through 2017, the Secretary of Energy 

16 shall transmit to Congress a report regarding the tech17 nologies developed as a result of the activities authorized 

18 by this title, with a particular emphasis on whether the 

19 technologies were successfully adopted for commercial ap20 plications, and if so, whether products relying on those 

21 technologies are manufactured in the United States. 

22 (b) ADDITIONAL MATTERS.—At the end of each fis23 cal year through 2017 the Secretary shall submit to the 

24 relevant Congressional committees of jurisdiction an an25 nual report describing activities undertaken in the preVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:00 Apr 07, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S734.IS S734

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1 vious year under this title, active industry participants, ef2 forts to recruit new participants committed to design, en3 gineering, and manufacturing of advanced vehicle tech4 nologies in the United States, progress of the program in 

5 meeting goals and timelines, and a strategic plan for fund6 ing of activities across agencies. 

7 TITLE II—MEDIUM AND HEAVY 

8 DUTY COMMERCIAL AND 

9 TRANSIT VEHICLES 

10 SEC. 201. PROGRAM. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in partnership 

12 with relevant research and development programs in other 

13 Federal agencies, and a range of appropriate industry 

14 stakeholders, shall carry out a program of cooperative re15 search, development, demonstration, and commercial ap16 plication activities on advanced technologies for medium17 to heavy-duty commercial, vocational, recreational, and 

18 transit vehicles, including activities in the areas of— 

19 (1) engine efficiency and combustion research; 

20 (2) onboard storage technologies for compressed 

21 and liquefied natural gas; 

22 (3) development and integration of engine tech23 nologies designed for natural gas operation of a vari24 ety of vehicle platforms; 

25 (4) waste heat recovery and conversion; 


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1 (5) improved aerodynamics and tire rolling re2 sistance; 

3 (6) energy and space-efficient emissions control 

4 systems; 

5 (7) heavy hybrid, hybrid hydraulic, plug-in hy6 brid, and electric platforms, and energy storage 

7 technologies; 

8 (8) drivetrain optimization; 

9 (9) friction and wear reduction; 

10 (10) engine idle and parasitic energy loss reduc11 tion; 

12 (11) electrification of accessory loads; 

13 (12) onboard sensing and communications tech14 nologies; 

15 (13) advanced lightweighting materials and ve16 hicle designs; 

17 (14) increasing load capacity per vehicle; 

18 (15) thermal management of battery systems; 

19 (16) recharging infrastructure; 

20 (17) compressed natural gas infrastructure; 

21 (18) advanced internal combustion engines; 

22 (19) complete vehicle modeling and simulation; 

23 (20) hydrogen vehicle technologies, including 

24 fuel cells and internal combustion engines, and hy25 drogen infrastructure; 


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1 (21) retrofitting advanced technologies onto ex2 isting truck fleets; and 

3 (22) integration of these and other advanced 

4 systems onto a single truck and trailer platform. 

5 (b) LEADERSHIP.—The Secretary shall appoint a 

6 full-time Director to coordinate research, development, 

7 demonstration, and commercial application activities in 

8 medium- to heavy-duty commercial, recreational, and tran9 sit vehicle technologies. Responsibilities of the Director 

10 shall be to— 

11 (1) improve coordination and develop consensus 

12 between government agency and industry partners, 

13 and propose new processes for program management 

14 and priority setting to better align activities and 

15 budgets among partners; 

16 (2) regularly convene workshops, site visits, 

17 demonstrations, conferences, investor forums, and 

18 other events in which information and research find19 ings are shared among program participants and in20 terested stakeholders; 

21 (3) develop a budget for the Department’s ac22 tivities with regard to the interagency program, and 

23 provide consultation and guidance on vehicle tech24 nology funding priorities across agencies; 


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1 (4) determine a process for reviewing program 

2 technical goals, targets, and timetables and, where 

3 applicable, aided by life-cycle impact and cost anal4 ysis, propose revisions or elimination based on pro5 gram progress, available funding, and rate of tech6 nology adoption; 

7 (5) evaluate ongoing activities of the program 

8 and recommend project modifications, including the 

9 termination of projects, where applicable; 

10 (6) recruit new industry participants to the 

11 interagency program, including truck, trailer, and 

12 component manufacturers who have not traditionally 

13 participated in federally sponsored research and 

14 technology development activities; and 

15 (7) other responsibilities as determined by the 

16 Secretary, in consultation with interagency and in17 dustry partners. 

18 (c) REPORTING.—At the end of each fiscal year, the 

19 Secretary shall submit to the Congress an annual report 

20 describing activities undertaken in the previous year, ac21 tive industry participants, efforts to recruit new partici22 pants, progress of the program in meeting goals and 

23 timelines, and a strategic plan for funding of activities 

24 across agencies. 


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1 SEC. 202. CLASS 8 TRUCK AND TRAILER SYSTEMS DEM2 ONSTRATION. 

3 The Secretary shall conduct a competitive grant pro4 gram to demonstrate the integration of multiple advanced 

5 technologies on Class 8 truck and trailer platforms with 

6 a goal of improving overall freight efficiency, as measured 

7 in tons and volume of freight hauled or other work per8 formance-based metrics, by 50 percent, including a com9 bination of technologies listed in section 201(a). Applicant 

10 teams may be comprised of truck and trailer manufactur11 ers, engine and component manufacturers, fleet cus12 tomers, university researchers, and other applicants as ap13 propriate for the development and demonstration of inte14 grated Class 8 truck and trailer systems. 

15 SEC. 203. TECHNOLOGY TESTING AND METRICS. 

16 The Secretary, in coordination with the partners of 

17 the interagency research program described in section 

18 201(a)— 

19 (1) shall develop standard testing procedures 

20 and technologies for evaluating the performance of 

21 advanced heavy vehicle technologies under a range of 

22 representative duty cycles and operating conditions, 

23 including for heavy hybrid propulsion systems; 

24 (2) shall evaluate heavy vehicle performance 

25 using work performance-based metrics other than 

26 those based on miles per gallon, including those 


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1 based on units of volume and weight transported for 

2 freight applications, and appropriate metrics based 

3 on the work performed by nonroad systems; and 

4 (3) may construct heavy duty truck and bus 

5 testing facilities. 

6 SEC. 204. NONROAD SYSTEMS PILOT PROGRAM. 

7 The Secretary shall undertake a pilot program of re8 search, development, demonstration, and commercial ap9 plications of technologies to improve total machine or sys10 tem efficiency for nonroad mobile equipment including ag11 ricultural and construction equipment, and shall seek op12 portunities to transfer relevant research findings and tech13 nologies between the nonroad and on-highway equipment 

14 and vehicle sectors. 

Æ 


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