DOE Funding R&D to Improve Medium and Heavy Truck Operating Efficiency

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced it will award $12.5 million in grants and form a consortium for the improvement of operating efficiency of medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

The consortium will form a new technical track under the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center; the DOE's funding will support the U.S. Consortium and Chinese funding will support the collaborative counterpart of the Chinese Consortium. 

Five R&D topic areas have been chosen for the consortium to investigate: 

• advanced internal combustion engine and powertrain systems
• overall energy management (system level efficiency improvements)
• hybrid electric powertrain
• other key truck technologies
• vehicle demonstration

Grant applicants must address all five topics and will need to match the funds provided by the DOE.