Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced it will fund seven cost-shared research projects for the development of advanced batteries for electric drive vehicles.

The total DOE investment for these projects is up to US$10.96 million over three years, subject to annual appropriations, with private sector contributions increasing the financial investment to a total of $19.36 million. The projects announced are part of the DOE’s continuing work to develop high-efficiency electric drive vehicle battery technologies.

The seven projects will focus on improving battery material performance, developing manufacturing processes to increase performance, and decreasing the cost of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) batteries. The acceleration of lithium ion battery development is a key step in the successful commercialization of PHEVs, which will be capable of travelling up to 64 km without recharging.

The selections include A123Systems, to develop a high throughput electrode fabrication process for lithium battery technology; EnerDel Inc., to develop a chemical shuttle agent that will eliminate the danger of overcharging lithium ion batteries; and TIAX LLC, for a project aimed at understanding and preventing internal short circuits in lithium ion cells.

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