The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy announced its intent to issue three sustainable transportation technologies funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) in Spring 2021. These potential funding opportunities seek innovative research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) in the pursuit of technologies that will help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the transportation sector, the highest source of emissions in the United States^[1]

Building a clean energy economy and addressing the climate crisis is a top priority of the Biden Administration. The Administration has laid out a bold plan to lead the world in building a clean energy economy, and to address climate change and achieve net-zero emissions no later than 2050 to the benefit of all Americans. The Department of Energy is committed to pushing the frontiers of science and engineering, catalyzing clean energy jobs through RDD&D, and ensuring environmental justice and inclusion of disadvantaged communities.

The three Notices of Intent (NOI) are for the following potential FOAs:

Notice of Intent - SuperTruck 3: Improving the vehicle efficiency and safety of freight transportation while minimizing environmental impact is critical to helping the country decrease its petroleum use and reduce emissions as the economy grows. The Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) and the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) are interested in partnering to develop and demonstrate R&D concepts to enable higher efficiency, low-emission medium- and heavy-duty trucks and freight systems. This NOI aims to take advantage of the significant opportunities for the entire freight and truck transportation system to achieve higher efficiency and electrification (battery, hydrogen fuel cell, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell range extenders).

Notice of Intent - Low Greenhouse Gas Vehicle Technologies Research, Development, and Deployment: VTO  funds a broad portfolio of RDD&D projects to develop affordable, efficient, and clean transportation options to tackle the climate crisis and accelerate the development and widespread use of a variety of innovative transportation technologies. This NOI will invite innovative solutions for on- and off-road vehicles to support the reduction of emissions and increased efficiencies in the transportation sector. To achieve this, areas that could be explored include community-level electric vehicle (EV) demonstrations, EV infrastructure and charging, and advanced engines and fuels that reduce emissions.

Notice of Intent - Bioenergy Technologies Office Scale-Up and Conversion: The Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) is focused on developing technologies that convert domestic biomass and other waste resources into low carbon biofuels and bioproducts. These bioenergy technologies can enable a transition to a clean energy economy, create high-quality jobs, support rural economies, and spur innovation in renewable energy and chemicals production—the bioeconomy. This NOI anticipates supporting high-impact technology research, development, and demonstration to bolster the body of scientific and engineering knowledge needed to produce low-carbon biofuels at lower cost. This will involve partnerships with industry to demonstrate these technologies at industrially-relevant scales.

DOE is working to mitigate the climate impact of light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles, and the scope of the RDD&D will not be exclusive to one fuel source or vehicle type. By improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions across the entire transportation sector, DOE can help ensure that the benefits of this work are equitably distributed to all Americans.

Learn more about Funding Opportunities at BETO, HFTO, and VTO.