FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
Thursday, Dec 16th, 2010

CONTACT: Dan Farough
Office: (248) 273-4227

ADVANCED VEHICLE R&D GETS $184 MILLION BOOST

Department of Energy effort will help cement MI lead in new energy economy

 Washington, DC – Congressman Gary Peters today applauded the announcement by U.S. Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu that $184 million would be going into research and development of the next generation of advanced vehicles.      

“The 9th Congressional District is home to more automobile engineers than any other Congressional District in the country, and is poised to lead the nation in the development and production of the next generation of cars and trucks,” said Congressman Gary Peters.  “Other countries are investing heavily in these technologies, and today’s announcement by the Energy Department shows that America will not be left behind in these new emerging industries.”

The Department of Energy is making $184 million available beginning this summer to industry and university teams to help accelerate the development and deployment of new efficient vehicle technologies and to help address challenges to their adoption.  The awards are being administered through the Vehicle Technologies Program.

Peters authored and passed legislation in 2009 that would help spur development of advanced vehicle technologies in Michigan.  The Advanced Vehicle Technology Act (H.R. 3246) would authorize nearly $3 billion for the Department of Energy to carry out advanced technology vehicle and component part research and development over the next five years. Despite being approved by a wide bipartisan majority of 312-114 in the House, and being endorsed by a wide range of industry, labor, and environmental groups the bill has not yet been taken up in the Senate this year. 

More information on the Vehicle Technologies Program announced today can be found at: http://www.vehicles.energy.gov.  Applications for the solicitation are due February 28, 2011. Applications must be submitted through Grants.gov (www.grants.gov) to be considered for awards. The Department of Energy expects to announce the selections by summer 2011.

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