II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 488 

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 

MARCH 7, 2013 

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Advanced Vehicle Technology Act of 2013’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Objectives. 

Sec. 3. Definitions. 

Sec. 4. Coordination and nonduplication. 


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TITLE I—VEHICLE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 

Sec. 101. Program. 

Sec. 102. Sensing and communications technologies. 

Sec. 103. Manufacturing. 

Sec. 104. Reporting. 

TITLE II—MEDIUM AND HEAVY DUTY COMMERCIAL AND 

TRANSIT VEHICLES 

Sec. 201. Program. 

Sec. 202. Class 8 truck and trailer systems demonstration. 

Sec. 203. Technology testing and metrics. 

Sec. 204. Nonroad systems pilot program. 

Sec. 205. Repeal of existing authorities. 

1 SEC. 2. OBJECTIVES. 

2 The objectives of this Act are— 

3 (1) to reform and reorient the vehicle tech4 nologies programs of the Department; 

5 (2) to establish a clear and consistent authority 

6 for vehicle technologies programs of the Department; 

7 (3) to develop United States technologies and 

8 practices that— 

9 (A) improve the fuel efficiency and emis10 sions of all vehicles produced in the United 

11 States; and 

12 (B) reduce vehicle reliance on petroleum13 based fuels; 

14 (4) to support domestic research, development, 

15 engineering, demonstration, and commercial applica16 tion and manufacturing of advanced vehicles, en17 gines, and components; 


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1 (5) to enable vehicles to move larger volumes of 

2 goods and more passengers with less energy and 

3 emissions; 

4 (6) to develop cost-effective advanced tech5 nologies for wide-scale utilization throughout the 

6 passenger, commercial, government, and transit ve7 hicle sectors; 

8 (7) to allow for greater consumer choice of vehi9 cle technologies and fuels; 

10 (8) to shorten technology development and inte11 gration cycles in the vehicle industry; 

12 (9) to ensure a proper balance and diversity of 

13 Federal investment in vehicle technologies and 

14 among vehicle classes; and 

15 (10) to strengthen partnerships between Fed16 eral and State governmental agencies and the pri17 vate and academic sectors. 

18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

19 In this Act: 

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

21 means the Department of Energy. 

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

23 the Secretary of Energy. 


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1 SEC. 4. COORDINATION AND NONDUPLICATION. 

2 (a) COORDINATION.—The Secretary shall ensure that 

3 activities authorized by this Act do not duplicate activities 

4 of other programs within the Department or other rel5 evant agencies. 

6 (b) COST-SHARING REQUIREMENT.—The activities 

7 carried out under this Act shall be subject to the cost8 sharing requirements of section 988 of the Energy Policy 

9 Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16352). 

10 TITLE I—VEHICLE RESEARCH 

11 AND DEVELOPMENT 

12 SEC. 101. PROGRAM. 

13 (a) ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary shall conduct a pro14 gram of basic and applied research, development, engi15 neering, demonstration, and commercial application activi16 ties on materials, technologies, and processes with the po17 tential to substantially reduce or eliminate petroleum use 

18 and the emissions of the Nation’s passenger and commer19 cial vehicles, including activities in the areas of— 

20 (1) hybridization or full electrification of vehicle 

21 systems; 

22 (2) batteries, ultracapacitors, and other energy 

23 storage devices; 

24 (3) power electronics; 

25 (4) vehicle, component, and subsystem manu26 facturing technologies and processes; 


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1 (5) engine efficiency and combustion optimiza2 tion; 

3 (6) waste heat recovery; 

4 (7) transmission and drivetrains; 

5 (8) hydrogen vehicle technologies, including fuel 

6 cells and internal combustion engines, and hydrogen 

7 infrastructure; 

8 (9) compressed natural gas and liquefied petro9 leum gas vehicle technologies; 

10 (10) aerodynamics, rolling resistance, and ac11 cessory power loads of vehicles and associated equip12 ment; 

13 (11) vehicle weight reduction, including 

14 lightweighting materials; 

15 (12) friction and wear reduction; 

16 (13) engine and component durability; 

17 (14) innovative propulsion systems; 

18 (15) advanced boosting systems; 

19 (16) hydraulic hybrid technologies; 

20 (17) engine compatibility with and optimization 

21 for a variety of transportation fuels including nat22 ural gas and other liquid and gaseous fuels; 

23 (18) predictive engineering, modeling, and sim24 ulation of vehicle and transportation systems; 


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1 (19) refueling and charging infrastructure for 

2 alternative fueled and electric or plug-in electric hy3 brid vehicles, including the unique challenges facing 

4 rural areas; 

5 (20) gaseous fuels storage systems and system 

6 integration and optimization; 

7 (21) sensing, communications, and actuation 

8 technologies for vehicle, electrical grid, and infra9 structure; 

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

11 potentially critical materials in vehicles, including 

12 rare earth elements and precious metals, at risk of 

13 supply disruption; 

14 (23) aftertreatment technologies; 

15 (24) thermal management of battery systems; 

16 (25) retrofitting advanced vehicle technologies 

17 to existing vehicles; 

18 (26) development of common standards, speci19 fications, and architectures for both transportation 

20 and stationary battery applications; 

21 (27) advanced internal combustion engines; and 

22 (28) other research areas as determined by the 

23 Secretary. 

24 (b) TRANSFORMATIONAL TECHNOLOGY.—The Sec25 retary shall ensure that the Department continues to supVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:26 Mar 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S488.IS S488

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1 port research, development, engineering, demonstration, 

2 and commercial application activities and maintains com3 petency in mid- to long-term transformational vehicle tech4 nologies with potential to achieve deep reductions in petro5 leum use and emissions, including activities in the areas 

6 of— 

7 (1) hydrogen vehicle technologies, including fuel 

8 cells, internal combustion engines, hydrogen storage, 

9 infrastructure, and activities in hydrogen technology 

10 validation and safety codes and standards; 

11 (2) multiple battery chemistries and novel en12 ergy storage devices, including nonchemical bat13 teries, ultracapacitors and electromechanical storage 

14 technologies such as hydraulics, flywheels, and com15 pressed air storage; 

16 (3) communication, connectivity, and power 

17 flow among vehicles, infrastructure, and the elec18 trical grid; and 

19 (4) other innovative technologies research and 

20 development, as determined by the Secretary. 

21 (c) INDUSTRY PARTICIPATION.—To the maximum 

22 extent practicable, activities under this Act shall be carried 

23 out in partnership or collaboration with automotive manu24 facturers, heavy commercial, vocational, and transit vehi25 cle manufacturers, qualified plug-in electric vehicle manuVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:26 Mar 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S488.IS S488

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1 facturers, compressed natural gas and liquefied petroleum 

2 gas vehicle manufacturers, vehicle and engine equipment 

3 and component manufacturers, manufacturing equipment 

4 manufacturers, advanced vehicle service providers, fuel 

5 producers and energy suppliers, electric utilities, univer6 sities, national laboratories, and independent research lab7 oratories. In carrying out this Act the Secretary shall— 

8 (1) determine whether a wide range of compa9 nies that manufacture or assemble vehicles or com10 ponents in the United States are represented in on11 going public private partnership activities, including 

12 firms that have not traditionally participated in fed13 erally sponsored research and development activities, 

14 and where possible, partner with such firms that 

15 conduct significant and relevant research and devel16 opment activities in the United States; 

17 (2) leverage the capabilities and resources of, 

18 and formalize partnerships with, industry-led stake19 holder organizations, nonprofit organizations, indus20 try consortia, and trade associations with expertise 

21 in the research and development of, and education 

22 and outreach activities in, advanced automotive and 

23 commercial vehicle technologies; 


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1 (3) develop more efficient processes for trans2 ferring research findings and technologies to indus3 try; 

4 (4) give consideration to conversion of existing 

5 or former vehicle technology development or manu6 facturing facilities for the purposes of this Act; 

7 (5) establish and support public-private part8 nerships, dedicated to overcoming barriers in com9 mercial application of transformational vehicle tech10 nologies, that utilize such industry-led technology de11 velopment facilities of entities with demonstrated ex12 pertise in successfully designing and engineering 

13 pre-commercial generations of such transformational 

14 technology; and 

15 (6) promote efforts to ensure that technology 

16 research, development, engineering, and commercial 

17 application activities funded under this Act are car18 ried out in the United States. 

19 (d) INTERAGENCY AND INTRAAGENCY COORDINA20 TION.—To the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary 

21 shall coordinate research, development, demonstration, 

22 and commercial application activities among— 

23 (1) relevant programs within the Department, 

24 including— 


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1 (A) the Office of Energy Efficiency and 

2 Renewable Energy; 

3 (B) the Office of Science; 

4 (C) the Office of Electricity Delivery and 

5 Energy Reliability; 

6 (D) the Office of Fossil Energy; 

7 (E) the Advanced Research Projects Agen8 cy—Energy; and 

9 (F) other offices as determined by the Sec10 retary; and 

11 (2) relevant technology research and develop12 ment programs within the Department of Transpor13 tation and other Federal agencies, as determined by 

14 the Secretary. 

15 (e) FEDERAL DEMONSTRATION OF TECH16 NOLOGIES.—The Secretary shall make information avail17 able to procurement programs of Federal agencies regard18 ing the potential to demonstrate technologies resulting 

19 from activities funded through programs under this Act. 

20 (f) INTERGOVERNMENTAL COORDINATION.—The 

21 Secretary shall seek opportunities to leverage resources 

22 and support initiatives of State and local governments in 

23 developing and promoting advanced vehicle technologies, 

24 manufacturing, and infrastructure. 


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1 (g) CRITERIA.—When awarding cost-shared grants 

2 under this program, the Secretary shall give priority to 

3 those technologies (either individually or as part of a sys4 tem) that— 

5 (1) provide the greatest aggregate fuel savings 

6 based on the reasonable projected sales volumes of 

7 the technology; and 

8 (2) provide the greatest increase in United 

9 States employment. 

10 SEC. 102. SENSING AND COMMUNICATIONS TECH11 NOLOGIES. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordination 

13 with the Secretary of Transportation and the relevant re14 search programs of other Federal agencies, shall conduct 

15 research, development, engineering, and demonstration ac16 tivities on connectivity of vehicle and transportation sys17 tems, including on sensing, computation, communication, 

18 and actuation technologies that allow for reduced fuel use, 

19 optimized traffic flow, and vehicle electrification, including 

20 technologies for— 

21 (1) onboard vehicle, engine, and component 

22 sensing and actuation; 

23 (2) vehicle-to-vehicle sensing and communica24 tion; 


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1 (3) vehicle-to-infrastructure sensing and com2 munication; and 

3 (4) vehicle integration with the electrical grid, 

4 including communications to provide grid services. 

5 (b) COORDINATION.—The activities carried out under 

6 this section shall supplement (and not supplant) activities 

7 under the intelligent transportation system research pro8 gram of the Department of Transportation. 

9 SEC. 103. MANUFACTURING. 

10 The Secretary shall carry out a research, develop11 ment, engineering, demonstration, and commercial appli12 cation program of advanced vehicle manufacturing tech13 nologies and practices, including innovative processes to— 

14 (1) increase the production rate and decrease 

15 the cost of advanced battery manufacturing; 

16 (2) vary the capability of individual manufac17 turing facilities to accommodate different battery 

18 chemistries and configurations; 

19 (3) reduce waste streams, emissions, and en20 ergy-intensity of vehicle, engine, advanced battery 

21 and component manufacturing processes; 

22 (4) recycle and remanufacture used batteries 

23 and other vehicle components for reuse in vehicles or 

24 stationary applications; 


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1 (5) produce cost-effective lightweight materials 

2 such as advanced metal alloys, polymeric composites, 

3 and carbon fiber; 

4 (6) produce lightweight high pressure storage 

5 systems for gaseous fuels; 

6 (7) design and manufacture purpose-built hy7 drogen and fuel cell vehicles and components; 

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

9 advanced batteries; and 

10 (9) produce permanent magnets for advanced 

11 vehicles. 

12 SEC. 104. 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 00:26 Mar 09, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S488.IS S488

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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 natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas; 

22 (3) development and integration of engine tech23 nologies designed for compressed natural gas and 

24 liquefied petroleum gas operation of a variety of ve25 hicle platforms; 


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1 (4) waste heat recovery and conversion; 

2 (5) improved aerodynamics and tire rolling re3 sistance; 

4 (6) energy and space-efficient emissions control 

5 systems; 

6 (7) heavy hybrid, hybrid hydraulic, plug-in hy7 brid, and electric platforms, and energy storage 

8 technologies; 

9 (8) drivetrain optimization; 

10 (9) friction and wear reduction; 

11 (10) engine idle and parasitic energy loss reduc12 tion; 

13 (11) electrification of accessory loads; 

14 (12) onboard sensing and communications tech15 nologies; 

16 (13) advanced lightweighting materials and ve17 hicle designs; 

18 (14) increasing load capacity per vehicle; 

19 (15) thermal management of battery systems; 

20 (16) recharging infrastructure; 

21 (17) compressed natural gas and liquefied pe22 troleum gas infrastructure; 

23 (18) advanced internal combustion engines; 

24 (19) complete vehicle modeling and simulation; 


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1 (20) hydrogen vehicle technologies, including 

2 fuel cells and internal combustion engines, and hy3 drogen infrastructure; 

4 (21) retrofitting advanced technologies onto ex5 isting truck fleets; and 

6 (22) integration of these and other advanced 

7 systems onto a single truck and trailer platform. 

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

9 full-time Director to coordinate research, development, 

10 demonstration, and commercial application activities in 

11 medium- to heavy-duty commercial, recreational, and tran12 sit vehicle technologies. Responsibilities of the Director 

13 shall be to— 

14 (1) improve coordination and develop consensus 

15 between government agency and industry partners, 

16 and propose new processes for program management 

17 and priority setting to better align activities and 

18 budgets among partners; 

19 (2) regularly convene workshops, site visits, 

20 demonstrations, conferences, investor forums, and 

21 other events in which information and research find22 ings are shared among program participants and in23 terested stakeholders; 

24 (3) develop a budget for the Department’s ac25 tivities with regard to the interagency program, and 


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1 provide consultation and guidance on vehicle tech2 nology funding priorities across agencies; 

3 (4) determine a process for reviewing program 

4 technical goals, targets, and timetables and, where 

5 applicable, aided by life-cycle impact and cost anal6 ysis, propose revisions or elimination based on pro7 gram progress, available funding, and rate of tech8 nology adoption; 

9 (5) evaluate ongoing activities of the program 

10 and recommend project modifications, including the 

11 termination of projects, where applicable; 

12 (6) recruit new industry participants to the 

13 interagency program, including truck, trailer, and 

14 component manufacturers who have not traditionally 

15 participated in federally sponsored research and 

16 technology development activities; and 

17 (7) other responsibilities as determined by the 

18 Secretary, in consultation with interagency and in19 dustry partners. 

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

21 Secretary shall submit to the Congress an annual report 

22 describing activities undertaken in the previous year, ac23 tive industry participants, efforts to recruit new partici24 pants, progress of the program in meeting goals and 


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1 timelines, and a strategic plan for funding of activities 

2 across agencies. 

3 SEC. 202. CLASS 8 TRUCK AND TRAILER SYSTEMS DEM4 ONSTRATION. 

5 The Secretary shall conduct a competitive grant pro6 gram to demonstrate the integration of multiple advanced 

7 technologies on Class 8 truck and trailer platforms with 

8 a goal of improving overall freight efficiency, as measured 

9 in tons and volume of freight hauled or other work per10 formance-based metrics, by 50 percent, including a com11 bination of technologies listed in section 201(a). Applicant 

12 teams may be comprised of truck and trailer manufactur13 ers, engine and component manufacturers, fleet cus14 tomers, university researchers, and other applicants as ap15 propriate for the development and demonstration of inte16 grated Class 8 truck and trailer systems. 

17 SEC. 203. TECHNOLOGY TESTING AND METRICS. 

18 The Secretary, in coordination with the partners of 

19 the interagency research program described in section 

20 201(a)— 

21 (1) shall develop standard testing procedures 

22 and technologies for evaluating the performance of 

23 advanced heavy vehicle technologies under a range of 

24 representative duty cycles and operating conditions, 

25 including for heavy hybrid propulsion systems; 


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1 (2) shall evaluate heavy vehicle performance 

2 using work performance-based metrics other than 

3 those based on miles per gallon, including those 

4 based on units of volume and weight transported for 

5 freight applications, and appropriate metrics based 

6 on the work performed by nonroad systems; and 

7 (3) may construct heavy duty truck and bus 

8 testing facilities. 

9 SEC. 204. NONROAD SYSTEMS PILOT PROGRAM. 

10 The Secretary shall undertake a pilot program of re11 search, development, demonstration, and commercial ap12 plications of technologies to improve total machine or sys13 tem efficiency for nonroad mobile equipment including ag14 ricultural and construction equipment, and shall seek op15 portunities to transfer relevant research findings and tech16 nologies between the nonroad and on-highway equipment 

17 and vehicle sectors. 

18 SEC. 205. REPEAL OF EXISTING AUTHORITIES. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Sections 706, 711, 712, and 933 

20 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16051, 

21 16061, 16062, 16233) are repealed. 

22 (b) ENERGY EFFICIENCY.—Section 911 of the En23 ergy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16191) is amended— 

24 (1) in subsection (a)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘vehi2 cles, buildings,’’ and inserting ‘‘buildings’’; and 

3 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

4 (i) by striking subparagraph (A); and 

5 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

6 (B) through (E) as subparagraphs (A) 

7 through (D), respectively; and 

8 (2) in subsection (c)— 

9 (A) by striking paragraph (3); 

10 (B) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 

11 paragraph (3); and 

12 (C) in paragraph (3) (as so redesignated), 

13 by striking ‘‘(a)(2)(D)’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘(a)(2)(C)’’. 

15 (c) ENERGY STORAGE COMPETITIVENESS.—Section 

16 641 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 

17 (42 U.S.C. 17231) is amended— 

18 (1) by striking subsection (j); 

19 (2) by redesignating subsections (k) through (p) 

20 as subsections (j) through (o), respectively; and 

21 (3) in subsection (o) (as so redesignated)— 

22 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and;’’ 

23 after the semicolon at the end; 

24 (B) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘and’’ 

25 after the semicolon at the end; 


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1 (C) by striking paragraph (5); 

2 (D) by redesignating paragraph (6) as 

3 paragraph (5); and 

4 (E) in paragraph (5) (as so redesignated), 

5 by striking ‘‘subsection (k)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub6 section (j)’’. 

Æ 


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