Review of the Research Program of the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership: Second Report

摘要

This is the report of the Committee on Review of the FreedomCAR and Fuel Research Program, Phase 2, chartered by the National Research Council (NRC). The Phase 1 review of the Partnership was published by the NRC in 2005. The FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership is a collaboration among the U.S. government, in particular the Department of Energy (DOE); the U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), whose members are Chrysler LLC, the Ford Motor Company, and General Motors Corporation; and five key energy companies: BP America, Chevron Corporation, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil Corporation, and Shell Hydrogen (U.S.). The program supports the very wide variety of research activities needed to enable a transition pathway for automotive transportation. The pathway starts with internal combustion engines (ICEs) more efficient than today's, proceeds through the increasing use of a variety of ICE hybrid electric vehicles, and then, by 2015, arrives at the point where the private sector can make a decision, based on information generated by the Partnership, about the commercialization of fuel-cell-powered vehicles fueled by economically competitive hydrogen produced from a variety of energy sources. Research goals have been established that, if achieved, promise to overcome the many high-risk barriers to achieving this vision.