Transportation News Archive

June 7, 2007: Challenge X Competition Concludes for 2007

The third year of the four-year, Argonne-managed Challenge X collegiate engineering competition came to a close on June 7, 2007, with Mississippi State University taking top honors. (More...)

June 6, 2007: FCStone Carbon Teams up with Argonne to Quantify Biofuel Carbon Credit Reductions

FCStone Carbon, LLC, a subsidiary of major commodity risk management firm FCStone Group, Inc., and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory announced that they are working together to quantify biofuel carbon credit reductions and trading in the marketplace. Argonne acts as a certified third party agency, quantifying how many carbon credits a facility can offer by using its total energy cycle software model, GREET (Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions and Energy use in Transportation). (More...)

May 15, 2007: Maxwell Technologies and Argonne to Collaborate in Test of Ultracapacitor/ Lithium-ion Battery Combination for Hybrid Vehicles

Maxwell Technologies, Inc., will supply ultracapacitor cells and integration kits to Argonne National Laboratory for a collaborative research project to assemble and evaluate an integrated ultracapacitor/lithium-ion battery energy storage system for plug-in hybrid vehicles. Argonne will provide batteries and power electronics, design and fabricate the integrated energy system for installation in the Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) of the Advanced Powertrain Research Facility (APRF) in Argonne’s Center for Transportation Research. APRF’s primary focus is technology validation and benchmarking testing for advanced vehicles and their supporting subsystems. (More...)

May 8, 2007: New 'Layered-Layered' Materials Promise to Improve Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory have developed a new approach to increasing the capacity and stability of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. The technology is based on a new material for the positive electrode made of a unique nano-crystalline, layered-composite structure. Argonne's strategy uses a two-component composite structure — an active component that provides for charge storage is embedded in an inactive component that stabilizes the structure. (More...)

April 5, 2007: Argonne's Idling Research Cited in Light-Duty Vehicle Idling Story

Argonne National Laboratory's paper, "Estimation of Fuel Use by Idling Commercial Trucks" is featured in a story on the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities web site discussing both the impacts of idling light-duty vehicles (LDVs) and alternatives to such idling. Although much attention in recent years has focused on the impacts of heavy-duty vehicle idling, light-duty commercial vehicles such as delivery vans and pickup trucks often idle for a considerable part of the workday.

The Argonne paper, presented at the 2006 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, provided the first detailed estimates of the extent of workday idling for all classes of commercial vehicles, as well as a description of a phenomenon known as "creep idling" while waiting to advance in traffic lines, typically at warehouses or delivery depots. The Clean Cities article discusses some of the climate control technologues that can help to reduce stationary idling time for LDVs; the creep idling problem could be addressed by technologies (such as hybridization) that reduce reliance on gasoline or diesel engines at low engine idling speeds.

• View the Clean Cities web site story
• View the Argonne paper (PDF 341 KB)

March 7, 2007: CRADA Team Recognized for Award-winning Collaboration in Environmental Innovation

The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, the United States Council for Automotive Research's Vehicle Recycling Partnership and the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council have been awarded the Plastics Recycling and Sustainability Award in Enabling Technologies by the Society of Plastics Engineers for their work in the optimum recycling of plastics and other materials from end-of-life vehicles. (More...)

February 23, 2007: Argonne’s Thackeray Participates in White House Discussion on Lithium-ion Batteries

Michael Thackeray of Argonne’s Chemical Engineering Division was an invited participant in a February 23 round table discussion at the White House that included President Bush and industry representatives. The discussion focused on the role of lithium-ion batteries for transportation, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles

As a battery expert, Thackeray provided an overview on advanced batteries, addressed the challenges of advanced battery research and development, and showed the path forward to achieving commercially viable lithium-ion battery-powered vehicles. Other participants included Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman, A123 Systems’ CEO David Vieau, and Phoenix Motorcars’ CEO Daniel J. Elliott, among others. (More...)

February 8, 2007: Catalyst Breakthrough Boosts Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory have discovered new information on the behavior of nano-engineered platinum surfaces – information that may bring polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells for hydrogen-powered vehicles another step closer to full development. (More...)

December 19, 1997: Argonne Releases New Version of Award-winning Vehicle Simulation Modeling Software

Argonne National Laboratory's Powertrain System Analysis Toolkit (PSAT) enables designers to overcome time and cost constraints for advanced vehicle design, such as hybrid and fuel cell vehicles. The latest version, 6.1, includes many new features and improvements. These changes were driven by user feedback in industry and universities. Some of the enhancements include: the ability to implement any proprietary component models, data sets, control strategies or drive cycles through the interactive graphical user interface; simple differentiation between light duty and heavy duty vehicle simulation; enhanced component models and data components; html report of simulations and tests. (More...)

December 1, 2006: Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Research Capabilities at Argonne National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Argonne National Laboratory, two of the nation's premier research organizations, have announced a three-year collaborative agreement to conduct detailed analysis of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) aimed at assessing the commercial feasibility of this technology for the U.S. Department of Energy. (More...)

October 11, 2006: Nanoexa, Decktron to Collaborate with Argonne on Commercialization of Next-Generation Batteries

Nanoexa, a leading nanotechnology-based clean energy company, and Decktron, a lithium battery and display company, have announced a definitive agreement to develop and transfer into commercial use new lithium battery technology originally developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory. (More...)

August 23, 2006: Industrial Research Partner Honors Argonne for Exceptional Collaboration

Air Products and Chemicals of Allentown, Penn., has given Argonne its 4th annual External Collaboration Award. (More...)

June 16, 2006: GM Lauds Argonne's Bob Larsen at Challenge X Competition

Senior executives at General Motors (GM) praised Argonne's Bob Larsen during the 2006 Challenge X Competition awards ceremony. (More...)

November 15, 2005: Recycling Automotive Plastics Is Profitable and Good for the Environment

Recycling is not just good for the environment, it is good for business. Argonne researchers have developed a technology to successfully recover plastic from obsolete automobiles that may add plastic to the list of valuable materials recycled from old cars and trucks. (More...)

November 3, 2005: GREETing a Cleaner, More Energy-Efficient Future

Argonne researchers have developed software that is now the government and industry standard for evaluating various vehicle and fuel combinations on a consistent fuel-cycle basis from extracting the energy feedstocks –petroleum and natural gas – through fuel production to final vehicle operation. (More...)

October 21, 2005: SAE Award for Excellence in Oral Presentation

Kyeong Lee of Argonne National Laboratory received the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Excellence in Oral Presentation Award for his presentation entitled, “Effects of Exhaust System Components on Diesel Particulate Morphology for a Light-Duty Diesel Engines." (More...)

August 3, 2005: Characterizing Emissions Reduction Technologies By Using In-Cylinder Endoscope Imaging

Researchers compared emissions resulting from the use of an HF-333 diesel fuel (D2) with EGR to control NOx reaction kinetics and those from a new SunDiesel fuel derived from wood chips (made by the Choren Company in Germany using a process similar to Fischer-Tropsch). (More...)

August 3, 2005: Argonne Oxygen Sensor Wins R&D 100 Award

Researchers at Argonne and The Ohio State University will share a 2005 R&D 100 award, given annually by R&D Magazine to the 100 most significant technical products of the year. They have developed a compact sensor to monitor combustion processes in coal-fired power plants, petrochemical plants, blast furnaces, glass processing equipment, and even internal combustion engines. Because the sensor can withstand high temperatures up to 1,600°C, it can monitor in real time, providing performance information that is important to manufacturers seeking to increase energy savings and efficiency. (More...)

August 1, 2005: Argonne Awarded Lithium Battery Technology Patents

Argonne has been granted two U.S. patents on new "composite-structure" electrode materials for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Such electrodes offer superior cost and safety features over state-of-the-art LiCoO2 electrodes that power conventional lithium-ion batteries. Moreover, they demonstrate outstanding cycling stability and can be charged and discharged at high rates, making them excellent candidates to replace LiCoO2 for hybrid electric vehicles. (More...)

July 15, 2005: Challenge X: Year One Results

The University of Waterloo won first place in Year One of the Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainability competition at the General Motors University in Auburn Hills, Mich. Challenge X is a three-year-long competition to minimize energy consumption and reduce emissions of hybrid vehicles while maintaining performance. (More...)

May 6, 2005: DOE Officials Visit Argonne's Transportation Facilities

Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman and Office of Science Director Ray Orbach visited Argonne’s transportation research facilties and discussed Argonne's work in fuel cell development, diesel engine combustion studies, and hybrid vehicle testing with researchers. (More...)

April 15, 2005: Argonne Presents PSAT Software License to CATARC

The PSAT licensing agreement represents another step in the broadening collaboration between Argonne and CATARC following the signing of a ground-breaking memorandum of understanding on March 9, 2004, to help promote commercialization of energy-efficient vehicles and clean transportation fuels in China. (More...)

March 1, 2005: Team Receives $14.5 Million to Develop Advanced Combustion Technology for Vehicles

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Program has awarded a $14.5 million research project to a team of industry, university, and national laboratory innovators — including Argonne National Laboratory — to develop high-efficiency, clean combustion technology for vehicles. Participants will conduct research for the development and application of homogenous-charge compression-ignition (HCCI) combustion over as large an operating range as possible by integrating commercial or near-commercial fuel, air, and engine technologies with advanced controls. (More...)

January 25, 2005: Chinese-American Olympics Planning Group Meets at Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne National Laboratory recently hosted approximately 90 Chinese and American scientists and policy makers working toward the goal of creating a cleaner Beijing. The December gathering was the first American meeting of the Chinese-American Joint Working Group on Olympic Cooperation to develop sustainable technologies for the City of Beijing and the 2008 Olympic Games. (More...)