Hydrogen Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) R&D Plan - 2007 U.S. Dept of Energy

Hydrogen Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) R&D Plan - FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Program, February 2007 External Draft

Preface

February 28, 2007

Open letter to readers of the Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) R&D Plan

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are an important part of the Administration's AdvancedEnergy Initiative. With successful development and deployment of the critical propulsion system technologies, PHEVs could noticeably contribute to the "20 in 10" gasoline savings goal announced in the 2007 State of the Union Address. In fact, the President explicitly mentioned PHEVs as one element in the strategy to diversify America�s energy supply, i.e., "We need to press on with battery research for plug-in and hybrid vehicles, and expand the use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel".

Some of you participated in the PHEV Discussion Meeting held at DOE in mid-2006 and your contributions were extremely helpful. That meeting was instrumental in the DOE decision to rigorously assess technology development requirements and allocate resources for the critical components of PHEVs. Furthermore, the key challenges identified in the meeting and DOE experience with the supporting technologies were thebasis of our PHEV planning activities. The FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies(FCVT) Program, in consultation with industry and other DOE offices, generated this plan to develop batteries, power electronics and electric machines for hybrid vehicles thatmeet the Administration's expectations. The plan addresses all aspects of the activity from benchmarking and requirements analysis through technology development and demonstration.

We are proud of our efforts to develop PHEV technology and it shows in the plan; the substantial effort and contributions of the FCVT technical staff and national laboratories should be recognized.

I am asking you to support our technology development efforts and invite your review of the Department's PHEV R&D Plan; it can be downloaded from the DOE website ( http://www.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels). In keeping with the growing public and congressional interest, I have targeted an expeditious release of the plan by April 20. Therefore, I ask for your response by e-mail no later than March 28 (addressed toAAT@ee.doe.gov). I look forward to hearing from you.

Hydrogen Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) R&D Plan