Sec. 4. Advanced vehicle research and development program
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The Secretary, in consultation with the heads of relevant Federal agencies, shall conduct a research, development, and demonstration program of advanced vehicle technologies on more efficient, sustainable, and domestically available materials and manufacturing processes with the potential to— substantially reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacture and use of passenger and commercial vehicles; and reduce the cost of vehicle manufacturing and ownership. In carrying out the program under subsection (a), the Secretary shall coordinate with the activities authorized under section 137 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 ( 42 U.S.C. 17014 ; relating to research and development into integrating electric vehicles onto the electric grid) and subsection
(q)of section 641 of the United States Energy Storage Competitiveness Act of 2007 ( 42 U.S.C. 17231 ; enacted as subtitle D of title VI of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007; relating to the establishment of a critical material recycling and reuse research, development, and demonstration program), and with the heads of relevant Federal agencies to determine a comprehensive set of technical milestones for such activities and focus on research and development challenges across the vehicle supply chain including, to the maximum extent practicable, activities in the areas of— electrification of vehicle systems, including compact and efficient electric drivetrain systems; power electronics, electric machines, and electric machine drive systems, which may include— electronic motors, including advanced inverters and motors that can be used for passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles; magnetic materials, including permanent magnets with reduced or no critical materials; improving partial load efficiency; design of power electronics and electric motor technologies that enable efficient recycling of critical materials; and assessing potential impacts of various vehicle systems on electric propulsion performance, including potential impacts from AM/FM radio frequencies; vehicle batteries and relevant systems, which may include— advanced batteries systems, ultracapacitors, and other competitive energy storage devices; common interconnection protocols, specifications, and architecture for both transportation and stationary battery applications; energy density and capacity, recharging robustness, extreme fast charging and wireless charging capabilities, and efficiencies to lower cost; lifetime improvement and reduction of potential lifecycle impacts from advanced batteries; improving efficient use and reuse, substitution, and recycling of critical materials in vehicles, including rare earth elements and precious metals, at risk of supply disruption; advanced battery protection systems for safe handling of high voltage power and thermal management; technologies enabling flexible manufacturing facilities that can accommodate different vehicle battery chemistries and configurations; and improving the efficiency and safety of the manufacturing of advanced batteries; vehicle components and systems, including manufacturing technologies and processes, which may include— reducing or repurposing waste streams, reducing emissions, and energy intensity of vehicle, engine, and advanced battery manufacturing processes; and increasing the production rate and decreasing the cost of advanced battery and hydrogen fuel cell manufacturing, including purpose-built hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, hydrogen fueling infrastructure, and components; hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles and fuel pathways, which may include— vehicle fuel cells and relevant systems, including power electronics systems to regulate fuel cell voltages; synthetic fuels from recycled carbon dioxide and net-zero carbon liquid fuels; and advanced biofuel technologies; lubricants and accessory power loads for hybrid and electric vehicles aftertreatment technologies; vehicle weight reduction, which may include the development of— more sustainable and cost-effective lightweight materials; and higher efficiency manufacturing processes, such as additive manufacturing, to produce sustainable lightweight materials and fabricate, assemble, and use dissimilar materials, including— lightweight systems which combine several existing vehicle components; and voluntary, consensus-based standards for strategic lightweight materials; improved vehicle recycling methods to increase the recycled material content of feedstocks used in raw material manufacturing; vehicle propulsion systems, which may include— engine and component durability; engine down speeding; advanced internal combustion engines; transmission gear and engine operation matching; and advanced transmission technologies; applying advanced computing resources to large, voluntarily provided industry datasets from providers and cities to support the development of predictive engineering, modeling, and simulation of components, vehicle, and transportation systems; leveraging the use of machine learning toward manufacturing and additive manufacturing optimization, which may include assessing the efficiency and safety of manufacturing processes; advanced computing systems, including energy efficient systems, technology, and networking for vehicular on-board, off-board, and edge computing applications; assessing automation in both vehicle and infrastructure systems; infrastructure, which may include— refueling and charging infrastructure for alternative fueled and electric drive or plug-in electric hybrid vehicles, with consideration for the unique challenges facing urban and rural areas; extreme fast charging, including through wired and wireless charging systems; integration, bidirectional capability, and operational optimization of vehicle electrification for light, medium, and heavy duty with the charging infrastructure and the electric grid; and sensing, communications, and actuation technologies for vehicle, electric grid, and infrastructure, which may include— communication, onboard sensing, and connectivity among vehicles, infrastructure, pedestrians, and the electrical grid; assessing the use of autonomous vehicles or connectivity to improve roadway throughput; and research autonomous refueling and charging technologies and infrastructure; retrofitting advanced vehicle technologies to existing vehicles; informing and educating the public on the energy benefits of automation and connected vehicle technologies, connected infrastructure assets, and mobility applied sensors to build trust and acceptance; reusing valuable components and materials, such as permanent magnets and other electric drive components for advanced vehicles; and transportation system analysis to further understand the energy implications and opportunities of advanced mobility solutions, communication, and connectivity among vehicles, infrastructure, pedestrians, and the electrical grid. The Secretary, in carrying out the program established under subsection (a), and in consultation with the heads of relevant Federal agencies, shall support research, development, and demonstration activities to address and reduce nonroad sector emissions from transportation fuels used in aviation, rail, and maritime technologies and other relevant technologies. Such activities may be carried out primarily by an Energy Innovation Hub established under section 206 of the Department of Energy Research Coordination Act ( 42 U.S.C. 18632 ). The purpose of the research, development, and demonstration activities under paragraph
(1)shall be to— identify, study, evaluate, test, and demonstrate emerging transformational nonroad vehicle energy technologies and practices to improve environmental performance to meet Federal and international standards and guidelines, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions, water emissions, or other particulate or toxic emissions; advance research, development, and demonstration activities to— overcome barriers in transformational nonroad vehicle energy technologies, including alternative fuels such as hydrogen, components, and other energy technologies to improve total machine or system efficiency for nonroad mobile equipment; and increase the fuel economy and use of alternative fuels and alternative energy; support opportunities to transfer relevant research findings and technologies between the nonroad and on-highway equipment and vehicle sectors; and test relevant precommercial technologies. The Secretary may coordinate the research, development, and demonstration activities under paragraph
(1)with activities— that are associated with the development or approval of validation and testing regimes; and related to certification or validation of emerging energy technologies or practices that demonstrate significant environmental or other benefits to domestic non-road transportation industries. The Secretary may enter into cooperative agreements, contracts, or other agreements with academic, public, private, and nongovernmental entities and facilities to carry out the activities under paragraph (1). In this section, the term transformational nonroad vehicle technology means an innovative technology that— enables advanced nonroad transportation, nonroad transportation components, and related energy technologies that have the potential to produce significantly lower emissions and greater energy savings than current commercial technologies; enables improved or expanded supply and production of domestic emission reducing fuels and components; or ensures the long term, secure, and sustainable supply of critical materials. The Secretary shall periodically review activities carried out under this section to determine the achievement of technical milestones as determined by the Secretary. In carrying out the program under subsection (a), the Secretary, in coordination with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, shall— develop voluntary, consensus-based standard testing procedures, methodologies, and best practices for evaluating the performance of advanced vehicle technologies, including heavy vehicle technologies under a range of representative duty cycles and operating conditions, including for electrified and hydrogen fuel cell systems; and evaluate advanced vehicle performance, including heavy vehicle and nonroad vehicle performance using work performance-based metrics.
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