Advanced vehicle research and development

(a) Definitions In this section: (1) Extreme-fast charging The term extreme-fast charging means recharging up to 80 percent of battery capacity in approximately 10 minutes or less. (2) Program The term program means the research, development, and pilot scale demonstration program established under subsection (b). (3) Sustainable material The term sustainable material means material used throughout the consumer and industrial economy that can be produced in required volumes without— (A) depleting nonrenewable resources; or (B) disrupting the established steady-state equilibrium of the environment and key natural resource systems. (4) Transformational nonroad vehicle technology The term transformational nonroad vehicle technology means an innovative technology that— (A) 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; (B) enables improved or expanded supply and production of domestic emission reducing fuels and components; or (C) ensures the long term, secure, and sustainable supply of critical materials. (b) Advanced vehicle research and development program (1) In general The Secretary shall support a research, development, and pilot scale demonstration program relating to more efficient, sustainable, resilient, safe, and domestically available technology, sustainable materials, and manufacturing processes for advanced vehicle technologies that have the potential— (A) to substantially reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacture and use of passenger and commercial vehicles; (B) to reduce the cost of vehicle manufacturing and ownership; and (C) to reduce dependence on foreign energy sources. (2) Program components (A) In general In carrying out the program, the Secretary shall focus on research, development, and demonstration challenges across the full vehicle ecosystem (from the supply chain through manufacturing and end-of-life), including, to the maximum extent practicable, activities in the areas of— (i) electrification of vehicle systems, including compact and efficient electric drivetrain systems; (ii) power electronics, electric machines, and electric machine drive systems, which may include— (I) electronic motors, including advanced inverters and motors that can be used for passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles; (II) magnetic materials, including permanent magnets with reduced or without critical materials; (III) improvement of partial load efficiency; (IV) design of power electronics and electric motor technologies that enable efficient recycling of critical materials; and (V) assessment of potential impacts of various vehicle systems on electric propulsion performance, including potential impacts from AM/FM radio frequencies; (iii) vehicle batteries and relevant systems, which may include— (I) advanced batteries systems, ultracapacitors, and other competitive energy storage devices; (II) common interconnection protocols, specifications, and architecture for transportation and stationary battery applications; (III) energy density and capacity, recharging robustness, extreme-fast charging and wireless charging capabilities, and efficiencies to lower cost; (IV) lifetime improvement and reduction of potential lifecycle impacts from advanced batteries; (V) improvement of efficient use and reuse, substitution, and recycling of critical materials in vehicles, including rare earth elements and precious metals, at risk of supply disruption; (VI) advanced battery protection systems for safe handling of high-voltage power and thermal management; (VII) technologies that enable flexible manufacturing facilities that can accommodate different vehicle battery chemistries and configurations; and (VIII) improvement of the efficiency and safety of the manufacturing of advanced batteries; (iv) vehicle components and systems, including manufacturing technologies and processes, which may include— (I) reducing or repurposing waste streams, reducing emissions, and reducing energy intensity of vehicle, engine, and advanced battery manufacturing processes; and (II) increasing the production rate, and decreasing the cost of, advanced battery and hydrogen fuel cell manufacturing, including manufacturing of purpose-built hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, hydrogen fueling infrastructure, and components; (v) hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles and fuel pathways, which may include— (I) vehicle fuel cells and relevant systems, including power electronics systems to regulate fuel cell voltages; (II) synthetic fuels from recycled carbon dioxide and net-zero carbon liquid fuels; and (III) advanced biofuel technologies; (vi) lubricants and accessory power loads for hybrid and electric vehicles after treatment technologies; (vii) vehicle weight reduction, which may include the development of— (I) more sustainable materials or cost-effective lightweight materials; and (II) higher efficiency manufacturing processes, such as additive manufacturing, to produce sustainable materials or lightweight materials and fabricate, assemble, and use dissimilar materials, including— (aa) lightweight systems that combine several existing vehicle components; and (bb) voluntary, consensus-based standards for strategic lightweight materials; (viii) improved vehicle recycling methods to increase the recycled material content of feedstocks used in raw material manufacturing; (ix) vehicle propulsion systems, which may include— (I) engine and component durability; (II) engine down speeding; (III) advanced internal combustion engines; (IV) transmission gear and engine operation matching; and (V) advanced transmission technologies; (x) 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, vehicles, and transportation systems; (xi) leveraging the use of machine learning toward manufacturing and additive manufacturing optimization, which may include assessing the efficiency and safety of manufacturing processes; (xii) advanced computing systems, including energy efficient systems, technology, and networking, for vehicular onboard, off-board, and edge computing applications; (xiii) assessing automation in both vehicle and infrastructure systems; (xiv) infrastructure, which may include— (I) 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; (II) extreme-fast charging, including through wired and wireless charging systems; (III) integration, bidirectional capability, and operational optimization of vehicle electrification for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles with charging infrastructure and the electric grid; and (IV) sensing, communications, and actuation technologies for vehicles, the electric grid, and infrastructure, which may include— (aa) communication, onboard sensing, and connectivity among vehicles, infrastructure, pedestrians, and the electric grid; (bb) assessing the use of autonomous vehicles or connectivity to improve roadway throughput; and (cc) autonomous refueling and charging technologies and infrastructure; (xv) retrofitting advanced vehicle technologies to existing vehicles; (xvi) informing and educating the public on the energy benefits of automation, electrification, and connected vehicle technologies, connected infrastructure assets, and mobility applied sensors; (xvii) reusing valuable components and materials, such as permanent magnets and other electric drive components for advanced vehicles; (xviii) transportation system analysis to further understand the energy implications and opportunities of advanced mobility solutions and communication and connectivity among vehicles, infrastructure, pedestrians, and the electric grid; and (xix) other innovative advanced vehicle technology-focused research and development, as determined by the Secretary. (B) Technical milestones The Secretary shall determine a comprehensive set of technical milestones for research and development carried out under the program. (3) Coordination In carrying out paragraph (2), the Secretary shall coordinate with— (A) the program established under section 137 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17014); and (B) the program established under section 641(q) of the United States Energy Storage Competitiveness Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17231(q)). (c) Nonroad transportation environmental and technical assistance research (1) Activities (A) In general In carrying out the program, the Secretary, 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. (B) Energy Innovation Hub The activities described in subparagraph (A) may be carried out primarily by an Energy Innovation Hub established pursuant to section 206 of the Department of Energy Research Coordination Act (42 U.S.C. 18632). (2) Purposes The purposes of the activities described in paragraph (1) shall be— (A) 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; (B) to advance research, development, and demonstration activities— (i) 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 (ii) to increase the fuel economy and use of alternative fuels and alternative energy; (C) to support opportunities to transfer relevant research findings and technologies between the nonroad and on-highway equipment and vehicle sectors; and (D) to test relevant precommercial technologies. (3) Coordination The Secretary may coordinate the activities described in paragraph (1) with activities— (A) that are associated with the development or approval of validation and testing regimes; and (B) related to certification or validation of emerging energy technologies or practices that demonstrate significant environmental or other benefits to domestic non-road transportation industries. (4) Assistance 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 described in paragraph (1). (d) Standard of review The Secretary shall periodically review activities carried out under this section to determine the achievement of technical milestones, as determined by the Secretary. (e) Technology testing and metrics In carrying out the program, the Secretary, in coordination with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, shall— (1) 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 (2) evaluate advanced vehicle performance, including heavy vehicle and nonroad vehicle performance using work performance-based metrics.