Medium-duty and heavy-duty commercial and transit vehicles program

(a) In general In coordination with the program established under section 7(b), the Secretary shall support a program of research, development, and demonstration activities of advanced energy technologies for medium-duty and heavy-duty commercial, vocational, recreational, and transit vehicles, on-road and nonroad, including, to the maximum extent practicable, activities in the areas of— (1) vehicle engines, which may include— (A) engine efficiency, emission controls, and combustion research; (B) energy- and space-efficient emissions control systems; (C) engine idle and parasitic energy loss reduction; (D) advanced internal combustion engines; and (E) engine down speeding; (2) electric drivetrains, including— (A) durable, highly efficient power electronics and electric machinery research; (B) partial load efficiency improvements; (C) control and coordination research for electric drive systems using multiple electric motors; (D) regenerative braking to recoup braking energy; and (E) high-fidelity modeling to accelerate design and adoption of electrified commercial vehicles; (3) friction and wear reduction; (4) improved aerodynamics and tire rolling resistance; (5) advanced lightweighting materials and vehicle designs; (6) synthetic fuels from recycled carbon dioxide and other net-zero carbon liquid fuels; (7) vehicle batteries, including— (A) complete vehicle and battery pack modeling, simulation, and testing; and (B) thermal management of battery systems; (8) mild hybrid, heavy hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric platforms and energy storage technologies, including— (A) identifying and developing solutions for technical barriers to advance batteries; (B) electric drive systems; and (C) charging and refueling systems for medium-duty commercial and heavy-duty freight delivery vehicles; (9) vehicle components, including— (A) transmission and drivetrain optimization, including compact and efficient electric drivetrain systems; (B) waste heat recovery and conversion; (C) electrification of steering systems, braking systems, and accessory loads; (D) onboard sensing, computing, and communications technologies; and (E) advanced battery protection systems for safe handling of high voltage power; (10) relevant infrastructure, including bidirectional capability, beyond megawatt charging, and increasing load capacity per vehicle; (11) recharging infrastructure and compressed natural gas infrastructure; (12) hydrogen vehicle technologies, including— (A) fuel cells; (B) hydrogen-fueling infrastructure; (C) the development of medium-duty and heavy-duty refueling equipment design and concepts; (D) synthetic fuels; (E) onboard technologies for compressed and other advanced hydrogen storage systems; and (F) advanced cooling technologies for fuel cell thermal management; (13) retrofitting advanced energy technologies onto existing truck and bus fleets; (14) assessment of automated and connected vehicle technologies; (15) energy use strategies, including charging patterns that minimize impacts on the distribution grid and optimize the use of clean, low-cost generation resources; and (16) integration of advanced systems onto a single truck and trailer platform or bus. (b) Coordination In carrying out the program under subsection (a), the Secretary shall coordinate with appropriate industry stakeholders, including relevant labor organizations. (c) Medium-Duty and heavy-Duty systems research, development, and demonstration (1) In general The Secretary shall award financial assistance for the research, development, and demonstration of the integration of multiple advanced energy technologies and advanced operational efficiency for medium-duty and heavy-duty platforms and trailers, including the integration of technologies described in subsection (a). (2) Applicant Applicants applying for assistance under paragraph (1) include— (A) truck and trailer manufacturers; (B) engine and component manufacturers; (C) hydrogen fuel cell and component manufacturers; (D) public and private fleet owners and customers; (E) university researchers; and (F) other applicants, as determined by the Secretary.