The first round of projects funded under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has been announced with 37 energy research projects to benefit from a total of $151million in funding.
In July this year, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the ARPA-E has received around 3,500 submissions for the cash available with a second set of funding opportunities to be announced later this year.
Among the projects to benefit are an effort to develop new metal-air batteries using advanced ionic liquids with 6-20 times the energy density of lithium-ion batteries at just one third of the cost; and a project to produce a flow of gasoline directly from sunlight and CO2 using a symbiotic system of two organisms.
In all, the grants are spread across 17 states with 43 per cent of the cash going to small businesses, 35 per cent to educational institutions and 19 per cent to large corporations.
Five vehicle projects will benefit – these are:
Advanced power semiconductor and packaging: A grant of $6,733,383 has been given to Delphi Automotive and International Rectifier to work with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to bring a new power electronics technology to the prototype stage. The aim is to deliver power from batteries to electric motors with up to 50 per cent more efficiency.
High energy permanent magnets for hybrid vehicles and alternative energy: A consortium between the University of Delaware, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Northeastern University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Ames Laboratory and Electron Energy Corporation hope to develop world record performance permanent magnet materials which are critical components in advanced motors for hybrids and electric vehicles. They have received a grant of $4,462,162.
Lightweight Thermal Energy Recovery System: A grant of $2,655,174 will help General Motors to develop a shape memory alloy energy recovery system that converts waste heat from car engines to electricity.
Wave disk engine: With $2,540,631 Michigan State can complete a prototype development of a gas-fuelled electricity generator that is said to be five times more efficient than traditional auto engines and could replace the back-up generator technology used in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Quaternary phosphonium based hydroxide exchange membranes: With $760,705 the University of California at Riverside will develop fuel cell membranes that are more tolerant to abuse and are more ion-conductive and durable.
