I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1027 

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

commercial application in vehicle technologies at the Department of Energy. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2013 

Mr. PETERS of Michigan introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

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 2013’’. 

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 03:52 Mar 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1027.IH H1027

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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 21 percent by 2030, while overall trans9 portation energy use will decline by 2 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 2014 through 2018. 


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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; 

13 (28) mild hybrid; 

14 (29) engine down speeding; and 

15 (30) other research areas as determined by the 

16 Secretary. 

17 (b) TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNOLOGY.—The Sec18 retary shall ensure that the Department continues to sup19 port research, development, engineering, demonstration, 

20 and commercial application activities and maintains com21 petency in mid- to long-term transformational vehicle tech22 nologies with potential to achieve deep reductions in petro23 leum use and emissions, including activities in the areas 

24 of— 


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1 (1) hydrogen vehicle technologies, including fuel 

2 cells, internal combustion engines, hydrogen storage, 

3 infrastructure, and activities in hydrogen technology 

4 validation and safety codes and standards; 

5 (2) multiple battery chemistries and novel en6 ergy storage devices, including nonchemical batteries 

7 and electromechanical storage technologies such as 

8 hydraulics, flywheels, and compressed air storage; 

9 (3) communication and connectivity among ve10 hicles, infrastructure, and the electrical grid; and 

11 (4) other innovative technologies research and 

12 development, as determined by the Secretary. 

13 (c) INDUSTRY PARTICIPATION.—To the maximum 

14 extent practicable, activities under this Act shall be carried 

15 out in partnership or collaboration with automotive manu16 facturers, heavy commercial, vocational, and transit vehi17 cle manufacturers, qualified plug-in electric vehicle manu18 facturers, compressed natural gas vehicle manufacturers, 

19 vehicle and engine equipment and component manufactur20 ers, manufacturing equipment manufacturers, advanced 

21 vehicle service providers, fuel producers and energy sup22 pliers, electric utilities, universities, national laboratories, 

23 and independent research laboratories. In carrying out 

24 this Act the Secretary shall— 


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1 (1) determine whether a wide range of compa2 nies that manufacture or assemble vehicles or com3 ponents in the United States are represented in on4 going public private partnership activities, including 

5 firms that have not traditionally participated in fed6 erally sponsored research and development activities, 

7 and where possible, partner with such firms that 

8 conduct significant and relevant research and devel9 opment activities in the United States; 

10 (2) leverage the capabilities and resources of, 

11 and formalize partnerships with, industry-led stake12 holder organizations, nonprofit organizations, indus13 try consortia, and trade associations with expertise 

14 in the research and development of, and education 

15 and outreach activities in, advanced automotive and 

16 commercial vehicle technologies; 

17 (3) develop more efficient processes for trans18 ferring research findings and technologies to indus19 try; 

20 (4) give consideration to conversion of existing 

21 or former vehicle technology development or manu22 facturing facilities for the purposes of this Act; 

23 (5) establish and support public-private part24 nerships, dedicated to overcoming barriers in com25 mercial application of transformational vehicle techVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:52 Mar 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1027.IH H1027

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1 nologies, that utilize such industry-led technology de2 velopment facilities of entities with demonstrated ex3 pertise in successfully designing and engineering 

4 pre-commercial generations of such transformational 

5 technology; and 

6 (6) promote efforts to ensure that technology 

7 research, development, engineering, and commercial 

8 application activities funded under this Act are car9 ried out in the United States. 

10 (d) INTERAGENCY AND INTRAAGENCY COORDINA11 TION.—To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary 

12 shall coordinate research, development, demonstration, 

13 and commercial application activities among— 

14 (1) relevant programs within the Department, 

15 including— 

16 (A) the Office of Energy Efficiency and 

17 Renewable Energy; 

18 (B) the Office of Science; 

19 (C) the Office of Electricity Delivery and 

20 Energy Reliability; 

21 (D) the Office of Fossil Energy; 

22 (E) the Advanced Research Projects Agen23 cy—Energy; and 

24 (F) other offices as determined by the Sec25 retary; and 


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1 (2) relevant technology research and develop2 ment programs within other Federal agencies, as de3 termined by the Secretary. 

4 (e) COORDINATION AND NONDUPLICATION.—In co5 ordinating activities the Secretary shall ensure, to the 

6 maximum extent practicable, that activities do not dupli7 cate those of other programs within the Department or 

8 other relevant research agencies. 

9 (f) FEDERAL DEMONSTRATION OF TECH10 NOLOGIES.—The Secretary shall make information avail11 able to procurement programs of Federal agencies regard12 ing the potential to demonstrate technologies resulting 

13 from activities funded through programs under this Act. 

14 (g) INTERGOVERNMENTAL COORDINATION.—The 

15 Secretary shall seek opportunities to leverage resources 

16 and support initiatives of State and local governments in 

17 developing and promoting advanced vehicle technologies, 

18 manufacturing, and infrastructure. 

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

20 program, the Secretary shall give priority to those tech21 nologies (either individually or as part of a system) that— 

22 (1) provide the greatest aggregate fuel savings 

23 based on the reasonable projected sales volumes of 

24 the technology; and 


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1 (2) provide the greatest increase in United 

2 States employment. 

3 SEC. 102. SENSING AND COMMUNICATIONS TECH4 NOLOGIES. 

5 The Secretary, in coordination with the relevant re6 search programs of other Federal agencies, shall conduct 

7 research, development, engineering, and demonstration ac8 tivities on connectivity of vehicle and transportation sys9 tems, including on sensing, computation, communication, 

10 and actuation technologies that allow for reduced fuel use, 

11 optimized traffic flow, and vehicle electrification, including 

12 technologies for— 

13 (1) onboard vehicle, engine, and component 

14 sensing and actuation; 

15 (2) vehicle-to-vehicle sensing and communica16 tion; 

17 (3) vehicle-to-infrastructure sensing and com18 munication; and 

19 (4) vehicle integration with the electrical grid. 

20 SEC. 103. MANUFACTURING. 

21 The Secretary shall carry out a research, develop22 ment, engineering, demonstration, and commercial appli23 cation program of advanced vehicle manufacturing tech24 nologies and practices, including innovative processes to— 


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1 (1) increase the production rate and decrease 

2 the cost of advanced battery manufacturing; 

3 (2) vary the capability of individual manufac4 turing facilities to accommodate different battery 

5 chemistries and configurations; 

6 (3) reduce waste streams, emissions, and energy 

7 intensity of vehicle, engine, advanced battery and 

8 component manufacturing processes; 

9 (4) recycle and remanufacture used batteries 

10 and other vehicle components for reuse in vehicles or 

11 stationary applications; 

12 (5) produce cost-effective lightweight materials 

13 such as advanced metal alloys, polymeric composites, 

14 and carbon fiber; 

15 (6) produce lightweight high pressure storage 

16 systems for gaseous fuels; 

17 (7) design and manufacture purpose-built hy18 drogen and fuel cell vehicles and components; 

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

20 advanced batteries; and 

21 (9) produce permanent magnets for advanced 

22 vehicles. 


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1 SEC. 104. USER TESTING FACILITIES. 

2 Activities under this Act may include construction, 

3 expansion, or modification of new and existing vehicle, en4 gine, and component research and testing facilities for— 

5 (1) testing or simulating interoperability of a 

6 variety of vehicle components and systems; 

7 (2) subjecting whole or partial vehicle platforms 

8 to fully representative duty cycles and operating con9 ditions; 

10 (3) developing and demonstrating a range of 

11 chemistries and configurations for advanced vehicle 

12 battery manufacturing; and 

13 (4) developing and demonstrating test cycles for 

14 new and alternative fuels, and other advanced vehi15 cle technologies. 

16 SEC. 105. REPORTING. 

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

18 months after the date of enactment of this Act and annu19 ally thereafter through 2019, the Secretary of Energy 

20 shall transmit to Congress a report regarding the tech21 nologies developed as a result of the activities authorized 

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

23 technologies were successfully adopted for commercial ap24 plications, and if so, whether products relying on those 

25 technologies are manufactured in the United States. 


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1 (b) ADDITIONAL MATTERS.—At the end of each fis2 cal year through 2019 the Secretary shall submit to the 

3 relevant congressional committees of jurisdiction an an4 nual report describing activities undertaken in the pre5 vious year under this title, active industry participants, ef6 forts to recruit new participants committed to design, en7 gineering, and manufacturing of advanced vehicle tech8 nologies in the United States, progress of the program in 

9 meeting goals and timelines, and a strategic plan for fund10 ing of activities across agencies. 

11 TITLE II—MEDIUM- AND HEAVY12 DUTY COMMERCIAL AND 

13 TRANSIT VEHICLES 

14 SEC. 201. PROGRAM. 

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

16 with relevant research and development programs in other 

17 Federal agencies, and a range of appropriate industry 

18 stakeholders, shall carry out a program of cooperative re19 search, development, demonstration, and commercial ap20 plication activities on advanced technologies for medium21 to heavy-duty commercial, vocational, recreational, and 

22 transit vehicles, including activities in the areas of— 

23 (1) engine efficiency and combustion research; 

24 (2) onboard storage technologies for compressed 

25 and liquefied natural gas; 


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1 (3) development and integration of engine tech2 nologies designed for natural gas operation of a vari3 ety of vehicle platforms; 

4 (4) waste heat recovery and conversion; 

5 (5) improved aerodynamics and tire rolling re6 sistance; 

7 (6) energy and space-efficient emissions control 

8 systems; 

9 (7) mild hybrid, heavy hybrid, hybrid hydraulic, 

10 plug-in hybrid, and electric platforms, and energy 

11 storage technologies; 

12 (8) drivetrain optimization; 

13 (9) friction and wear reduction; 

14 (10) engine idle and parasitic energy loss reduc15 tion; 

16 (11) electrification of accessory loads; 

17 (12) onboard sensing and communications tech18 nologies; 

19 (13) advanced lightweighting materials and ve20 hicle designs; 

21 (14) increasing load capacity per vehicle; 

22 (15) thermal management of battery systems; 

23 (16) recharging infrastructure; 

24 (17) compressed natural gas infrastructure; 

25 (18) advanced internal combustion engines; 


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1 (19) complete vehicle and power pack modeling, 

2 simulation, and testing; 

3 (20) hydrogen vehicle technologies, including 

4 fuel cells and internal combustion engines, and hy5 drogen infrastructure; 

6 (21) retrofitting advanced technologies onto ex7 isting truck fleets; 

8 (22) advanced boosting systems; 

9 (23) engine down speeding; and 

10 (24) integration of these and other advanced 

11 systems onto a single truck and trailer platform. 

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

13 full-time Director to coordinate research, development, 

14 demonstration, and commercial application activities in 

15 medium- to heavy-duty commercial, recreational, and tran16 sit vehicle technologies. Responsibilities of the Director 

17 shall be to— 

18 (1) improve coordination and develop consensus 

19 between government agency and industry partners, 

20 and propose new processes for program management 

21 and priority setting to better align activities and 

22 budgets among partners; 

23 (2) regularly convene workshops, site visits, 

24 demonstrations, conferences, investor forums, and 

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1 ings are shared among program participants and in2 terested stakeholders; 

3 (3) develop a budget for the Department’s ac4 tivities with regard to the interagency program, and 

5 provide consultation and guidance on vehicle tech6 nology funding priorities across agencies; 

7 (4) determine a process for reviewing program 

8 technical goals, targets, and timetables and, where 

9 applicable, aided by life-cycle impact and cost anal10 ysis, propose revisions or elimination based on pro11 gram progress, available funding, and rate of tech12 nology adoption; 

13 (5) evaluate ongoing activities of the program 

14 and recommend project modifications, including the 

15 termination of projects, where applicable; 

16 (6) recruit new industry participants to the 

17 interagency program, including truck, trailer, and 

18 component manufacturers who have not traditionally 

19 participated in federally sponsored research and 

20 technology development activities; and 

21 (7) other responsibilities as determined by the 

22 Secretary, in consultation with interagency and in23 dustry partners. 

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

25 Secretary shall submit to the Congress an annual report 


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1 describing activities undertaken in the previous year, ac2 tive industry participants, efforts to recruit new partici3 pants, progress of the program in meeting goals and 

4 timelines, and a strategic plan for funding of activities 

5 across agencies. 

6 SEC. 202. CLASS 8 TRUCK AND TRAILER SYSTEMS DEM7 ONSTRATION. 

8 The Secretary shall conduct a competitive grant pro9 gram to demonstrate the integration of multiple advanced 

10 technologies on Class 8 truck and trailer platforms with 

11 a goal of improving overall freight efficiency, as measured 

12 in tons and volume of freight hauled or other work per13 formance-based metrics, by 50 percent, including a com14 bination of technologies listed in section 201(a). Applicant 

15 teams may be comprised of truck and trailer manufactur16 ers, engine and component manufacturers, fleet cus17 tomers, university researchers, and other applicants as ap18 propriate for the development and demonstration of inte19 grated Class 8 truck and trailer systems. 

20 SEC. 203. TECHNOLOGY TESTING AND METRICS. 

21 The Secretary, in coordination with the partners of 

22 the interagency research program described in section 

23 201(a)— 

24 (1) shall develop standard testing procedures 

25 and technologies for evaluating the performance of 


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1 advanced heavy vehicle technologies under a range of 

2 representative duty cycles and operating conditions, 

3 including for heavy hybrid propulsion systems; 

4 (2) shall evaluate heavy vehicle performance 

5 using work performance-based metrics other than 

6 those based on miles per gallon, including those 

7 based on units of volume and weight transported for 

8 freight applications, and appropriate metrics based 

9 on the work performed by nonroad systems; and 

10 (3) may construct heavy duty truck and bus 

11 testing facilities. 

12 SEC. 204. NONROAD SYSTEMS PILOT PROGRAM. 

13 The Secretary shall undertake a pilot program of re14 search, development, demonstration, and commercial ap15 plications of technologies to improve total machine or sys16 tem efficiency for nonroad mobile equipment including ag17 ricultural and construction equipment, and shall seek op18 portunities to transfer relevant research findings and tech19 nologies between the nonroad and on-highway equipment 

20 and vehicle sectors. 

Æ 


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