Use & Efficiency

Transportation

Road Transportation Vehicles

Joseph A. Carpenter Jr.^a1, Jerry Gibbs^a1, Ahmad A. Pesaran^a2, Laura D. Marlino^a3 and Kenneth Kelly^a2

^a1 Department of Energy, USA

^a2 National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA

^a3 Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA

Abstract

In many industrial countries, road transportation accounts for a significant portion of the country's energy consumption. In developing countries, the use of energy for transportation is on the rise. The recent increase in petroleum prices, expanding world economic prosperity, the probable peaking of conventional petroleum production in the coming decades, and concerns about global climate changes require efforts to increase the efficiency of the use of, and develop alternatives for, petroleum-based fuels used in road transportation. The energy efficiency of a vehicle could be improved in several ways: lightweighting the vehicle structure and powertrain using advanced materials and designs, improving the efficiency of the internal combustion engine, reducing tire rolling resistance, and hybridization. Each of these efforts will require improvements in materials and processes.

Joseph A. Carpenter, Jr. can be reached at the Offce of FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies, EE-2G Rm. 5G-030, US Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20585, USA; tel. 202–586–1022, and e-mail joseph.carpenter@ee.doe.gov.

Carpenter is currently the technology development manager for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Lightweighting Materials effort, part of the FreedomCAR and Hydrogen Fuels Initiative between DOE and the U.S. automotive and energy-supply industries. He holds bachelor and doctoral degrees in materials from Virginia Tech. Carpenter also has held research and research management positions at Chrysler Corporation, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the National Institute for Standards and Technology, before joining the U.S. DOE. He lives with his wife on a foating home in the Potomac River in Washington, DC.

Jerry Gibbs can be reached at the Offce of FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies, EE-2G Rm. 5G-046, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20585, USA; tel. 202–586–1182, and e-mail Jerry. gibbs@ee.doe.gov.

Gibbs is a technology development manager and materials engineer with the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Effciency and Renewable Energy, Offce of Vehicle Technologies, Propulsion Materials. He has a BS degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ. Gibbs has more than 14 years of project management and feld experience working with heavy- and light-duty vehicle systems utilizing both conventional and alternative fuels.

Ahmad Pesaran can be reached at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401, USA; tel. 303–275–4441, and e-mail ahmad_pesaran@nrel.gov.

Pesaran has worked at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory since 1983 in various energy effciency technologies in building, advanced air conditioning, and automotive batteries. He holds a PhD degree in mechanical engineering from University of California, Los Angeles. Pesaran started working on batteries, hybrid electric, and fuel-cell vehicles in 1995, collaborating with car and battery manufacturers on battery thermal analysis and battery-pack thermal management issues as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Programs. He currently leads several projects for the Department of Energy and industrial partners, which include thermal characterization and analysis of batteries, modeling and simulation of batteries, and ultracapacitors for hybrid and plug-in vehicles. He is an active member of the FreedomCAR Electrochemical Energy Storage Technical Team and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Laura Marlino can be reached at the National Transportation Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2360 Cherahala Blvd., Knoxville, TN 37932–6472, USA; and e-mail marlinold@ornl.gov.

Marlino is the technical program manager overseeing the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery efforts at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy's (DOE) FreedomCAR effort. She received her BS degree in electronics engineering from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and her MS degree in electronics engineering from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Prior to her current position, Marlino spent 10 years as a research engineer in the Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. During her engineering career, she has been employed with Teledyne Camera Systems in California, performing analog video design; and Honeywell Aerospace and Marine in New Mexico, where she worked as a test and design engineer, involved with cockpit displays and processors for military aircraft. Marlino also has worked as a frontend IC design engineer with ASIC International in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. As part of her current responsibilities, Marlino oversees the technical progress on research and development efforts for hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fuel-cell vehicle technology developments. For the past five years, Marlino has been performing program and project management duties under the DOE's Offce of Vehicle Technologies Program. She also is a member of the Electrical and Electronics Technical Team within the United States Council for Automotive Research. Marlino holds four patents and has authored numerous technical publications.

Kenneth Kelly can be reached at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401, USA; tel. 303–275–4465, fax 303–275–4415, and e-mail kenneth_kelly@nrel.gov.

Kelly is a senior research engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO. Kelly holds MS and BS degrees in mechanical engineering from Ohio University. Before joining NREL, he worked in industry as a manufacturing engineer with Swagelok Company. Kelly joined NREL in 1991, where he is the task leader for research and development of advanced thermal control technologies for automotive power electronics. While at NREL, he also led efforts in Robust Design—for fuel cells and advanced heavy-duty hybrid electric vehicles. Kelly also has experience with alternative fuel vehicle emissions testing and feet evaluations.