2007 Transportation News & Highlights

Argonne Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Experts to Present Research at 23rd Electric Vehicle Symposium

November 30, 2007 — Researchers from Argonne National Laboratory's Transportation Technology R&D Center will present 11 papers during the Electric Vehicle Symposium-23 that will be held in Anaheim, Calif., from Dec. 2-5. Download papers and presentations. Read about EVS-23.

Argonne Teams with Industry to Promote PHEV R&D

Nov. 12, 2007 — The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has teamed up with several industrial partners, including some of America's largest automakers, to promote research and development of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Plug-in hybrids could revolutionize the automotive industry because, unlike conventional hybrid cars, they have the potential to run largely on electricity. More...

Argonne's Don Hillebrand Discusses Transportation Research Online

Nov. 2, 2007 — Audio interview given by Dr. Don Hillebrand discussing transporation research at Argonne. More...

Argonne helps China Create Cleaner Beijing for 2008 Olympics

Oct. 8, 2007 — The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory is working closely with Chinese scientists and policy makers toward the goal of creating a cleaner Beijing and developing sustainable technologies for the 2008 Olympic Games and beyond. More...

Argonne Receives Cost-shared DOE Grants to Improve Light-vehicle Fuel Efficiency

August 30, 2007 — Two Argonne-based research-and-development projects have been selected to receive grants from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as part of an effort to improve the fuel efficiency of light-duty vehicle engines while promoting collaboration between researchers in government labs, universities and industry. More...

Nano-Boric Acid Makes Motor Oil More Slippery

August 3, 2007 — Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have begun to combine infinitesimal particles of boric acid — known primarily as a mild antiseptic and eye cleanser — with traditional motor oils in order to improve their lubricity and by doing so increase energy efficiency. (More...)

Argonne's HybridFest 2007 Presence Generates a Buzz

July 31, 2007— Argonne National Laboratory's booth at the recent HybridFest 2007 in Madison, Wisconsin (July 21–22), attracted interest from consumers, the media, and industry representatives alike. The booth featured prototype plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), research vehicles, and components, not to mention the expertise of Argonne engineers at the forefront of PHEV research. (More...)

Practical On-board Hydrogen Storage is Goal of New Argonne Research Project

June 19, 2007 — Solving one of the biggest problems in commercialization of fuel-cell-powered automobiles is the goal of a new $1.88 million research project on on-board hydrogen storage at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Argonne National Laboratory. The Argonne research will investigate nanostructured polymeric materials as hydrogen storage adsorbents. Developed through an earlier collaboration between Argonne and the University of Chicago, the new polymer adsorbent material has shown great promise in preliminary tests. The new project funded by DOE will seek further improvements in storage capacity and an in-depth understanding of hydrogen-polymer interactions. (More...)

PSAT Wins Federal Laboratory Consortium Award

June 12 , 2007 — Argonne ’s Powertrain System Analysis Toolkit (PSAT) has been awarded a 2007 Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer by the Federal Laboratory Consortium. This award recognizes laboratory employees who have accomplished outstanding work in the process of transferring a technology developed by a federal laboratory to the commercial marketplace. (More...)

Challenge X Competition Concludes for 2007

June 2, 2007 -- The third year of the four-year, Argonne-managed Challenge X collegiate engineering competition came to a close on June 7, 2007, with Mississippi State University taking top honors. (More...)

FCStone Carbon Teams up with Argonne to Quantify Biofuel Carbon Credit Reductions

June 6, 2007 -- FCStone Carbon, LLC, a subsidiary of major commodity risk management firm FCStone Group, Inc., and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory announced that they are working together to quantify biofuel carbon credit reductions and trading in the marketplace. Argonne acts as a certified third party agency, quantifying how many carbon credits a facility can offer by using its total energy cycle software model, GREET (Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy use in Transportation). (More...)

Maxwell Technologies and Argonne to Collaborate in Test of Ultracapacitor/ Lithium-ion Battery Combination for Hybrid Vehicles

May 15, 2007 -- Maxwell Technologies, Inc., will supply ultracapacitor cells and integration kits to Argonne National Laboratory for a collaborative research project to assemble and evaluate an integrated ultracapacitor/lithium-ion battery energy storage system for plug-in hybrid vehicles. Argonne will provide batteries and power electronics, design and fabricate the integrated energy system for installation in the Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) of the Advanced Powertrain Research Facility (APRF) in Argonne’s Center for Transportation Research. APRF’s primary focus is technology validation and benchmarking testing for advanced vehicles and their supporting subsystems. (More...)

New 'Layered-Layered' Materials Promise to Improve Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

May 8, 2007 -- Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory have developed a new approach to increasing the capacity and stability of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. The technology is based on a new material for the positive electrode made of a unique nano-crystalline, layered-composite structure. Argonne's strategy uses a two-component composite structure — an active component that provides for charge storage is embedded in an inactive component that stabilizes the structure. (More...)

Argonne's Idling Research Cited in Light-Duty Vehicle Idling Story

April 15, 2007 -- Argonne National Laboratory's paper, "Estimation of Fuel Use by Idling Commercial Trucks" is featured in a story on the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities web site discussing both the impacts of idling light-duty vehicles (LDVs) and alternatives to such idling. Although much attention in recent years has focused on the impacts of heavy-duty vehicle idling, light-duty commercial vehicles such as delivery vans and pickup trucks often idle for a considerable part of the workday.

The Argonne paper, presented at the 2006 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, provided the first detailed estimates of the extent of workday idling for all classes of commercial vehicles, as well as a description of a phenomenon known as "creep idling" while waiting to advance in traffic lines, typically at warehouses or delivery depots. The Clean Cities article discusses some of the climate control technologues that can help to reduce stationary idling time for LDVs; the creep idling problem could be addressed by technologies (such as hybridization) that reduce reliance on gasoline or diesel engines at low engine idling speeds.

• View the Clean Cities web site story
• View the Argonne paper (PDF 341 KB)

CRADA Team Recognized for Award-winning Collaboration in Environmental Innovation

March 7, 2007 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, the United States Council for Automotive Research's Vehicle Recycling Partnership and the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council have been awarded the Plastics Recycling and Sustainability Award in Enabling Technologies by the Society of Plastics Engineers for their work in the optimum recycling of plastics and other materials from end-of-life vehicles. (More...)

Argonne’s Thackeray Participates in White House Discussion on Lithium-ion Batteries

February 23, 2007 -- Michael Thackeray of Argonne’s Chemical Engineering Division was an invited participant in a February 23 round table discussion at the White House that included President Bush and industry representatives. The discussion focused on the role of lithium-ion batteries for transportation, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles

As a battery expert, Thackeray provided an overview on advanced batteries, addressed the challenges of advanced battery research and development, and showed the path forward to achieving commercially viable lithium-ion battery-powered vehicles. Other participants included Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman, A123 Systems’ CEO David Vieau, and Phoenix Motorcars’ CEO Daniel J. Elliott, among others. (More...)

Catalyst Breakthrough Boosts Hydrogen Fuel Cells

February 8, 2007 -- Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have discovered new information on the behavior of nano-engineered platinum surfaces – information that may bring polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells for hydrogen-powered vehicles another step closer to full development. (More...)