Office of FreedomCar and Vehicle Technologies

The summary for the Office of FreedomCar and Vehicle Technologies grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the National Energy Technology Laboratory, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Office of FreedomCar and Vehicle Technologies: Area of Interest 1: E85 Optimized Engine This area supports the Presidential Advanced Energy Initiative and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT2005) to reduce the U.S. dependence on foreign oil. EPACT2005 defined a national Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) that requires 4 billion gallons of biofuels production in 2006 and 4.7 billion gallons in 2007, increasing gradually to 7.5 billion gallons in 2012. According to the latest press release from the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), there are currently 101 ethanol facilities nationwide with the capacity to produce more than 4.8 billion gallons of ethanol per year, an amount that already exceeds the requirement under the RFS for next year. With an additional 41 ethanol facilities under construction and 7 expansions underway, the industry is in the process of adding nearly 2.8 billion gallons of new capacity. That will provide enough capacity for the industry to produce 7.6 billion gallons of ethanol per year, which already exceeds the goal for 2012. The Department of Energy is seeking applications for consideration of financial support through a cooperative agreement in the area of (or for) optimized ethanol flexible fuel light duty vehicles. Currently U.S. automobile manufacturers produce flexible fuel vehicles that can operate as flexible fuel vehicles (FFV) which can operate on any blend of ethanol and gasoline from zero to eighty-five percent ethanol. Ethanol has unique properties that are not fully exploited in current technology FFVs. It is the intent of this announcement to undertake research and development projects that will result in FFVs that offer the ability to exploit the favorable properties of the ethanol gasoline blends.