The 2014 Vehicle Technologies budget proposal, submitted by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), requests $240 million to support R&D efforts for batteries and electric drive technology. The allotment is a $30 million jump over the amount requested for fiscal year 2013, and hopefully will build on the program’s string of notable technological achievements (described below).
The chief priority of Vehicle Technologies for 2014 is aimed at making domestic plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) as affordable and convenient as traditional internal combustion cars by 2022. This undertaking will be accomplished by reducing the cost of high-energy batteries from $500/kWh in 2012 to $125 by 2022. In addition to making passenger hybrids and EVs more affordable, hybridization is aimed at heavy-duty, class 8 trucks (essentially semi-trucks above 33,000 lbs). The inclusion of large trucks symbolizes the fact that smaller, yet broad changes like hybridization can a yield larger net benefit to the environment than some of the current, highly-advanced, exclusive technologies, like EVs and fuel cell vehicles.
The overall budget request for Vehicle Technologies in 2014 is $575 million, of which roughly $377 million is slated for R&D efforts. The overarching goal of the Vehicle Technologies program is to save 1.8 million barrels per day of highway vehicle petroleum by 2020, and to facilitate auto manufacturers in achieving the 54.5 miles per gallon (MPG) corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard, effective 2025.
In a world of contracting federal dollars, the increased budgetary request for hybrids and electric drive technology might come off to some as a bit of a boondoggle ($210 million was requested for FY 2013). However, the program has led to several important outcomes: today, most hybrid vehicles use battery technology that was developed with funds from EERE; battery costs were reduced from $1,200/kWh in 2008 to $500 in 2012 thanks in part to EERE funding; and, a decade of sustained Vehicle Technologies support has lead to 50 percent more energy storage capacity in certain battery technologies. These advancements are vital to weaning us off oil and reducing energy costs in the long run. Other components of the R&D section of the budget proposal focus on developing lightweight materials and alternative fuels, and further advancing the internal combustion engine—let’s face it, it’s not going anywhere soon.
It is true that other EERE funds are going towards loftier goals like hydrogen, wind, solar and bioenergy, but I think the hope is that more practical, shorter-term investments will build the road to get there.
Image by Matt Howard
