Off-Road, Rail, Marine, and Aviation

The Transportation Technologies Office's (TTO) Off-Road, Rail, Marine, and Aviation (ORMA) program focuses on new propulsion and vehicle technologies to increase vehicle efficiency for off-road, rail, marine, and aviation sectors.

 Technologies include:

• Electric and hybrid powertrains as well as high-efficiency engines that can use renewable fuels, such as advanced biofuels, hydrogen, and e-fuels (electro-fuels, i.e., fuels synthesized from zero-carbon feedstocks).
• Supports a multi-lab initiative, in close collaboration with industry and academia to lower emissions from the non-road sector and will apply the unique experimental, high-performance computing and hardware in-the-loop facilities to create knowledge, new concepts, and research tools.
• Optimization of emission control systems with conventional and alternative fuels.

ORMA Goals: Support R&D focused on non-road, heavy-duty vehicles, including engines used for off-road, rail, marine, and aviation applications that improve their ability to utilize alternative fuels.

ORMA's R&D areas:

• Develop fuel efficient designs for engines used in off-road, rail, and marine applications and optimize hybrid powertrains for off-road vehicles.
• Explore trans-critical phenomena of Synthetic Aviation Turbine Fuel (SATF) through high-fidelity simulations at relevant conditions.
• Develop predictive CFD capabilities for the analysis of ignition performance of SATFs at high altitude.
• Develop a science-based understanding of how engine efficiency and emissions are impacted by alternative fuel properties.
• Reduce the fuel use penalty and improve the effectiveness and durability of emissions control devices when using conventional and alternative fuels.

ORMA supports a number of unique user facilities at the national laboratories. In addition, TTO collaborates on research and development with industry, universities, and other federal agencies (such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration, Maritime Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) to achieve goals for innovation in these sectors.