Transportation Research News
Explore our archive of transportation and mobility research news stories.
Dec. 17, 2019
Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) achieved many goals across the spectrum of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in 2019, and the news coming from the laboratory shows it.
Dec. 16, 2019
A novel oxygenate molecule that can be produced from biomass shows promise for use as a blend for diesel fuel, according to researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Nov. 26, 2019
NREL researcher Juliette Ugirumurera leads simulation efforts for several transportation projects, including Athena, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded, national-lab-led multiyear
project aimed at improving the efficiency of transportation hubs through advanced high-performance computing. She was born in Rwanda and came to the United States on a scholarship. She
enjoys dancing and hiking in her free time.
Nov. 6, 2019
Two teams from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have been selected for the most recent cohort of the U.S. Department of Energy's "boot camp" for national-lab-based startups: Cycle, and HeadCount.
Nov. 4, 2019
The number of electric vehicles (EVs) hitting the road is increasing, and with that comes a significant challenge: developing and deploying low-cost solutions for public EV charging infrastructure. Partners such as PowerFlex are using NREL's "living laboratory" to find solutions to this and other big energy challenges.
Oct. 29, 2019
Bryan Pivovar began researching hydrogen when the field was wide open, but now the new NREL senior research fellow sees the next decade belonging to hydrogen energy.
Oct. 23, 2019
The Mobility Energy Productivity (MEP) metric comprehensively quantifies the efficiency of transportation systems while taking time, affordability, and energy use into consideration.
Oct. 8, 2019
This week the National Renewable Energy Laboratory joins others across the United States to celebrate the fifth National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day on October 8--10.08--a date chosen to represent the atomic weight of hydrogen (1.008).
Oct. 7, 2019
NREL Senior Scientist Huyen Dinh has overcome the upheaval of being a refugee to becoming a leader in hydrogen research.
Sept. 25, 2019
Each winning team receives $67,000, for a total of $1 million awarded.
Sept. 17, 2019
NREL will showcase a fuel cell electric vehicle at a National Drive Electric Week ride and drive event in Denver on September 19.
Sept. 10, 2019
NREL's intelligent campus ventures accelerated this week with the introduction of an automated electric vehicle in its employee shuttle fleet. The EasyMile EZ10 shuttle took its inaugural ride on Monday, transporting staff and visitors around NREL's South Table Mountain campus after a dedication ceremony marking its first day of operation.
Sept. 5, 2019
Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator member company Yotta Solar brought their behind-the-panel battery system to NREL for analysis this summer. It's a technology so new, researchers from multiple disciplines were pushed to develop next-generation evaluation techniques.
Aug. 22, 2019
NREL’s 2019 Partner Forum brought together energy industry leaders across multiple sectors to discuss today’s energy challenges and explore tomorrow’s potential solutions.
Aug. 20, 2019
One of the largest impediments to the mass adoption of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the United States is range anxiety--or, consumers' fear that they will be stranded because the vehicle has insufficient battery power to get them to their destination. A 2012 NREL collaboration with General Motors (GM) continues to inform the improvement of industry apps that help allay range anxiety and increase driver freedom.
Aug. 12, 2019
Cross-Discipline Team Envisions the Grid of the Future
July 16, 2019
NREL hosted twelfth annual symposium on energy storage.
July 16, 2019
The researchers leveraged on-road data from Volvo vehicles driving around Gothenburg, Sweden, and compared fuel efficiency for cars that used adaptive cruise control to those that did not.
July 16, 2019
NREL research could lead to the development of leading-edge, high-performance vertical transistors.
July 8, 2019
Finding a solution wasn't easy. The NREL-developed process at first ran into the problem of a hydrogen deficiency.
July 3, 2019
Modeled on a Department of Defense effort to put emerging technologies into the hands of the military, ARPA-E provides funds to overcome roadblocks that would otherwise prevent promising energy ideas from reaching the public.
June 25, 2019
Researchers with the Co-Optimization of Fuels & Engines initiative have identified the six blendstocks from two chemical families that exhibit the greatest potential to dramatically increase efficiency when combined with petroleum-based fuels in boosted (or turbocharged) spark-ignition engines for light-duty vehicles.
June 24, 2019
The U.S. Department of Energy honored two NREL research teams for their outstanding achievements at the Vehicle Technologies Office's Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting.
June 21, 2019
Since joining NREL in 2018, Behavioral Scientist Paty Romero-Lankao has been a dynamic force in integrating the social sciences into the more traditional engineering approach to mobility research.
June 18, 2019
For the first time, researchers capture 3D images of the crystal structure inside of operating single electrode particles. The images revealed unexpected results, as detailed in a recent journal article.
June 7, 2019
Scientists and Engineers to Discuss Ways to Surpass Current State-of-the-Art for Transportation and Electrical Grid Applications
June 6, 2019
By looking closely at battery cells, researchers hope to unlock the secret to scalable lithium-ion battery recycling.
May 8, 2019
A new $100 million agreement between ExxonMobil, NREL, and other DOE national laboratories will focus on developing transformative advanced energy technologies with a focus on reducing emissions.
April 29, 2019
NREL, which already has some 850 active partnership agreements with more than 500 partners in industry, government, and academia, is helping change the clean energy landscape along with its partners.
April 22, 2019
While hundreds of millions of tons of trash continue to be dumped into American landfills annually, a growing percentage has been diverted to recycling centers since the first Earth Day in 1970. But these centers aren't set up for renewable energy technologies.
April 16, 2019
NREL and Georgia Institute of Technology announce a new joint appointment program as part of an effort to enhance research collaboration between the lab and universities.
March 6, 2019
The selected projects will focus on reducing the total cost of ownership of NGVs, increasing vehicle efficiency, decreasing local air pollution, and advancing technology development to increase the use of more affordable medium- and heavy-duty natural gas engines and vehicles.
Feb. 28, 2019
The U.S. Department of Energy recently launched the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize, with NREL as prize administrator. The $5.5-million phased prize competition is designed to incentivize American innovators and businesses to develop and demonstrate processes that, when scaled, have the potential to profitably capture 90% of all discarded or spent lithium-ion batteries in the United States.
Feb. 25, 2019
On May 8, investors, start-up companies, and industry leaders from around the world will convene in Denver, Colo., for the third Emerging Markets Day, a forum to discuss the most promising cleantech solutions to the pressing energy challenges faced by emerging economies.
Feb. 19, 2019
The findings reveal gallium oxide wafers could be three to five times cheaper to manufacture than another related technology, silicon carbide.
Feb. 14, 2019
NREL is participating in a project led by Oak Ridge National Lab to create a large-scale, real-time “digital twin” of traffic conditions in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
