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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Pages 1-9

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From page 1...
... The Research and Development Plan for the Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies describes the research that OAAT plans to undertake "to reduce the most serious technical barriers to the development of energy-efficient automotive technologies that could significantly reduce the nation's dependence on petroleum." The National Research Council formed the Committee on Advanced Automotive Technologies Plan in response to a request from the OAAT to conduct an independent review of the OAAT R&D plan. OVERALL APPROACH The committee commends the OAAT on its R&D plan, which is a worthy attempt to integrate and coordinate research on advanced automotive technologies within DOE.
From page 2...
... The technical section of the plan provides information on technical barriers and approaches to overcoming these barriers for vehicle systems and seven individual technology areas: advanced engines; fuel cells; high power energy storage; power electronics and electric machines; advanced automotive materials; alternative fuels; and electric vehicle batteries. The committee found the technical plan to be logical and well structured, with a clear progression from the technical barriers to the technical tasks.
From page 3...
... GOALS AND OBJECTIVES One of DOE's goals is to "enhance energy productivity."4 The committee recognizes the benefits of this goal as part of a strategy for responding to possible energy supply shortages or more stringent environmental regulations, such as mandatory reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. In keeping with DOE's goals, OAAT's goal is to develop technologies that will enable the introduction into the domestic market of vehicles with several times the fuel efficiency of current, comparable conventional vehicles.
From page 4...
... However, attaining the high performance needed to meet OAAT's challenging fuel efficiency goal and other targets will be less difficult if an individual vehicle is optimized for a well defined and well refined fuel and is not required to be fuel flexible. The objectives of the OAAT plan specify fuel economy levels and dates for meeting technical targets and for marketing advanced vehicles.
From page 5...
... The dates indicating when advanced technology vehicles could be marketed should be either eliminated from the plan or qualified to indicate that they depend on many unknown, nontechnical factors. TECHNICAL TARGETS The plan defines technical targets for each technology area.
From page 6...
... However, the two vehicles will not necessarily offer the same "societal benefits," such as reduced air pollution or less dependence on imported petroleum. The PNGV Goal 3 states that advanced technology vehicles should "achieve up to three times the fuel efficiency of comparable 1994 family sedans with equivalent cost of ownership adjusted for economics." The committee believes this PNGV goal is unrealistic because many of the technologies under consideration are likely to increase the cost of advanced vehicles, even when adjusted for economics.
From page 7...
... In this context, the committee considers that the OAAT should use better systems analysis tools not only to configure vehicles to meet overall objectives, but also to establish performance requirements for component technologies and trade-offs as a basis for making Go/No Go decisions. These tools should include vehicle simulation models capable of comparing vehicle options on a consistent basis to clarify questions of relative performance and fuel economy.
From page 8...
... The plan notes that "in the event that appropriated budget levels will not support all of the activities reflected in this plan, available funding will be concentrated on the highest-priority technical barriers in the development path of the subject technologies." No mention is made of prioritizing activities across technology areas. In the committee's judgment, in the face of budget uncertainties, OAAT must set priorities both within and across technologies.
From page 9...
... The committee recognizes that judgment is required in balancing the many factors that influence priorities, but a rigorous analysis of technologies incorporating the latest technical discoveries should be the foundation for setting priorities. Recommendation.


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