Of the $151 million in grants announced this week under ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy), the Department of Energy’s highly competitive program for high-risk, early-stage energy technologies, more than a fifth — some $33 million — has been allocated for green vehicle projects. Since the program is meant to support work on tech that other investors consider too risky, each of the projects — from boosting the fuel economy of gas-powered cars to replacing lithium-ion batteries as the technology of choice for electric vehicles — represent something of a gamble. So when it comes to choosing ideas for transforming the auto industry and cleaning up transportation, how wisely is the DOE placing its chips?
According to Lux Research analyst Jacob Grose, who headed up the firm’s recent report on electric vehicle adoption, this first round of funding (there’s nearly $250 million left in the pot for later rounds) offers support for a strong balance of innovations. “Overall, I think the ARPA-E guys hit all the key areas for vehicle technologies,” by investing in the motors, batteries and electronics for today’s electric vehicles, as well as “some future technologies which are higher risk but may play a role in novel vehicles down the road,” and others that could help boost the MPGs of cars with the ol’ internal combustion engine.
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