VEHICLE TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM Hybrid Electric Systems: Goals, Strategies, and Top Accomplishments Transitioning America’s vehicle fleet (VTP) is spearheading the advances in to electric-drive vehicles could reduce energy storage and electric-drive tech- U.S. foreign oil dependence by more nologies needed for the new generation than 60% and greenhouse gas emissions of electric-drive vehicles, from battery by 40% while increasing the nation’s materials R&D to integration of the economic security. But electric-drive vehicle drivetrain. VTP goals, strate- vehicles aren’t new. At the start of the gies, and major accomplishments are 20th Century, electric cars with lead-acid described below. batteries held much of the U.S. market. Their popularity waned as the interest in cars with internal combustion engines Goals (ICEs) rose, owing to the ICE vehicle’s A crucial step toward electrified transpor- longer driving range, declining petro- tation is large-scale production of PHEVs leum costs, and the advent of the electric that are cost-competitive with conven- Dean Armstrong, NREL/PIX 17436 starter and manufacturing assembly line. tional ICE vehicles. VTP goals focus on Converted Ford Escape PHEV charging the R&D required to help this happen: from a photovoltaic system as part of a Today, electric-drive technologies are reducing the production cost of market- National Renewable Energy Laboratory back and ready to compete with—and ready, high-energy, high-power batteries electric-vehicle grid-integration project. complement—the ubiquitous ICE by 70% by 2014 (compared with 2009 technology. Advances in electric-drive costs); and reducing the cost of a market- technologies have enabled commer- ready advanced electric propulsion 3) Develop and validate models and cialization of hybrid electric vehicles system by at least 35% by 2015. These simulation tools to predict the perfor- (HEVs), which combine an ICE with goals are complemented by technical mance, fuel economy, and emissions batteries and an electric motor to provide targets—developed through system- and of advanced vehicle systems, in high fuel economy and a long driving vehicle-level simulations—and are de- conjunction with laboratory and field range. Continued advances are spawn- signed to ensure performance, safety, and testing, to benchmark and validate ing high-performance plug-in HEVs reliability comparable to today’s vehicles. the operational characteristics of (PHEVs)—with small ICEs and large, advanced electric-drive vehicles. grid-chargeable batteries that enable 10–40 mile all-electric driving ranges— Strategies VTP collaborates with industry, universi- and electric vehicles (EVs) that don’t use VTP strategies for enabling large- ties, and national laboratories to conduct an ICE at all. scale production of cost-competitive fundamental research on next-genera- PHEVs are based on three complemen- tion energy storage and electric-drive tary component- and system-level technologies as well as applied research that addresses the cross-cutting barri- Goals technology pathways: ers inhibiting the commercialization ■ By 2014, reduce the production 1) Reduce the cost of electrochemical en- of advanced electric-drive vehicles. cost of market-ready, high- ergy storage by developing lithium-ion Technology development conducted in energy, high-power batteries by 70% from 2009 costs. batteries and other advanced energy collaboration with industry partners— storage technologies that afford higher including vehicle manufacturers and ■ By 2015, reduce the cost of a energy densities without sacrificing component developers and suppliers— market-ready advanced electric enables rapid integration of new tech- propulsion system by at least 35%. safety and performance. nologies into commercial vehicles. 2) Enable the use of advanced energy storage technologies in vehicle Finally, VTP helped direct $2.4 billion The Hybrid Electric Systems subpro- systems by developing low-cost in funds from the American Recovery gram of the U.S Department of Energy’s advanced power electronics and and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to 48 new (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Program electric motor components. component manufacturing and vehicle www.eere.energy.gov/vehiclesandfuels • June 2010 VEHICLE TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM • June 2010 • Page 2 Chevy Volt PHEV deployment projects, including battery and power electronics manufacturing facilities, PHEV and EV demonstration projects, and education projects. This bol- stering of U.S. capacity to manufacture and deploy electric-drive technologies is a critical cost-reduction strategy. Top Accomplishments VTP has achieved major advances related to energy storage, power electronics and electric machines, and vehicle and Wieck Media Services/GM systems simulation and testing for HEVs and PHEVs. These include the ongoing development of innovative technologies and the demonstration and widespread deployment of advanced technologies in commercially available vehicles. The following are some of the top accomplish- ments to date. Energy Storage Developed Today’s HEV Batteries VTP-sponsored R&D resulted in the state-of-the-art nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries used in all of today’s HEVs. This support began in 1992 and was instrumental in the development of NiMH technology by Energy Conversion Johnson Controls-Saft Sandia National Laboratories Devices (ECD) and Saft America. ECD Johnson Controls-Saft lithium-ion battery Investigating the behavior and safety has licensing agreements with Sanyo of lithium-ion batteries under abuse (which supplies HEV batteries to Ford conditions at Sandia National Laboratories. and Honda) and Panasonic (which sup- to Mercedes for its S400 BlueHybrid, plies HEV batteries to Toyota). introduced to the market in October 2009. This compact battery system performs cathode material that has dominated Powered the Chevy Volt PHEV better than the NiMH batteries used in the market for nearly two decades. The General Motors (GM) chose lithium- other HEVs while achieving exceptional patented cathode material—a lithium-rich manganese-spinel battery technology— reliability, long service life, and excellent nickel manganese oxide—was licensed to developed by Compact Power/LG Chem safety. JCS also will supply lithium-ion BASF and Toda Kogyo Corporation. with VTP support—for its Chevy Volt batteries to BMW for its 7-Series Active- Another example is VTP’s support of Extended Range Electric Vehicle. The Hybrid model. novel polymer electrolyte technology Volt is expected to be the first commer- developed by Lawrence Berkeley Na- Developed Advanced Lithium cially available PHEV when it is released tional Laboratory (LBNL). Lithium-metal Battery Materials in late 2010. It is designed to travel 40 batteries with polymer electrolytes have a miles on a single battery charge. VTP supported Argonne National higher energy density than conventional Laboratory (ANL) in developing a lithium-ion batteries but suffer from Developed the First Commercial diverse portfolio of patented lithium-ion poor ionic conductivity. The LBNL solid Lithium-Ion HEV Battery battery technologies. For example, ANL polymer technology enables high conduc- VTP supported Johnson Controls-Saft developed a new lithium-ion cathode tivity, longer life, and improved safety by (JCS) in developing the first lithium-ion material that will result in batteries with replacing the traditional flammable liquid battery incorporated into a production better performance, service life, and electrolytes. This patented electrolyte HEV. JCS supplies lithium-ion batteries safety than those using the cobalt-based technology has been licensed to Seeo. CLEAN CITIES CLEAN VEHICLE TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM • June 2010 • Page 3 Oak Ridge National Laboratory Current source inverter developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory GM-Allison two-mode hybrid bus technology was applied to passenger HEVs, including the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid, Wieck Media Services/GM GMC Sierra Hybrid, BMW ActiveHybrid X6, and Mercedes ML450 Hybrid. Developed Standard Battery Benchmarking Accelerated Advanced Inverter National laboratories have developed test Technology protocols for benchmarking HEV, PHEV, Electric-drive vehicles use an inverter to and EV batteries with VTP support. transform direct-current electricity from These protocols include performance, the batteries to the alternating current cycle-life, calendar-life, and abuse testing needed to power the electric motor. Be- procedures. The resulting Electric Vehicle cause existing options were too large and Battery Test Procedures Manual was expensive for certain advanced vehicle adopted by the U.S. Advanced Battery applications, VTP sponsored Semikron Consortium and has become the basis for in developing an inverter with improved industry-wide recommended practices technical and cost characteristics. Com- that increase battery safety, improve mar- ponents of the inverter were incorporated ket access, and reduce costs. In addition, into vehicles used in Project Driveway, the National Renewable Energy Labora- a GM program to test the real-world tory (NREL) developed unique thermal performance of fuel cell vehicles. Project benchmarking and characterization tech- Driveway vehicles recently surpassed 1 niques to help battery developers improve million miles of operation. VTP support the thermal performance of batteries. A123 Systems was credited with accelerating the imple- mentation of the new inverter technology A123 Systems lithium-ion batteries Power Electronics and in automotive applications. Nurtured a