The 1996-1997 FutueCar Challenge featured then University of California-Davis graduate student David Friedman, who is now EERE's Acting Assistant Secretary.
During his time in graduate school at the University of California-Davis, David Friedman joined the FutureCar Challenge team to broaden his perspective of hybrid and battery-electric vehicles. More than 20 years later, the FutureCar Challenge, which was part of the Energy Department’s longstanding advanced vehicle technology competition, has evolved into today’s EcoCAR Competition.
Friedman, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, had no idea at the time how much that experience would help shape his future career goals. He sat down with me recently to discuss his experience with FutureCar, the industry itself, and where he sees EERE headed.
1. Tell me about your experience with FutureCar. What did you do exactly?
I was the lead for the controls team taking a donated car, a Ford aluminum intensive Taurus, and converting it to a plug-in hybrid. For a plug-in hybrid to work, you need to have a car smart enough to know when to turn the engine on and off and how much power to take from the engine versus the electric motor depending on how fast you want to go and how much energy is left in the battery. I supervised a small group of students that came up with solutions to make it work. We failed on that first round. It turned out there was electromagnetic interference interrupting our control system, so it had to be replaced with a “hybrid” control system. Instead of a computer, it was me in the passenger seat reading data inputs and pressing a button to turn the engine on and off while the driver relied on a two-stage accelerator pedal (the first part of pedal travel was for the motor and the second for the engine). Between that and some other challenges, we didn’t walk away with a competition victory, though we still won awards for Best Technical Report and Best Teamwork in the competition that year.
2. What made you want to participate on the team?
Originally, it was advice from my professor. It was my first year of graduate school, and I wanted to learn all I could about technology, policy, and economics, but also wanted hands-on training. I got that a bit at my job beforehand at a consulting firm, Arthur D Little, where I worked on contracts for the Energy Department (DOE) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory. One of those contracts was working on a project managed at DOE by some guy named Steve Chalk (EERE’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations). It’s great to be back here with folks who helped inspire my career.
3. What are the biggest industry changes you’ve seen?
It’s incredible to think about where we’ve come since then. I now own a plug-in hybrid, so the technology moved successfully from college competitions to consumer products. Automakers are not just meeting fuel efficiency standards, but beating them, using plug-in hybrids but also much simpler technology. We have better engines and transmissions, stronger materials, and they are technologies we’ve helped develop at DOE. The technology has changed, while giving consumers more to choose from. We have seen a real revolution in the auto industry, but what’s amazing to me is that we’re just getting warmed up!
4. Where do you see the sustainable transportation industry heading?
I think we’re going to see more innovation in the next 10-20 years than we’ve seen in the last 100. Plug-in electric vehicles will be an even more common option for consumers. Connected and automated cars will essentially drive by themselves and nearly eliminate crashes. Shared mobility, where you tap your smartphone for a car or truck to get a vehicle that will meet your needs for that day or where carpooling becomes more convenient than driving alone, could become the norm. Consumers are going to have a lot more choice, and it’s going to cost less, be safer, use less (or no) oil, and dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution.
5. What are your hobbies and what is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
I love spending time with my family. I enjoy hiking, biking, travel, and poetry. Folks might be surprised to know that I was a “motorcycle poet/philosopher” for a while, including when I was on the FutureCar team. The summer before, I hopped on my motorcycle and rode cross-country to go to graduate school. I would stop, camp, and write poetry or think big thoughts along the way.
