Printable Version

FY11 Budget Request: Electric Drive Highlights

On February 1, 2010, the Department of Energy rolled out its FY11 budget request, which overall is a good one for electric drive – particularly in the context of a discretionary spending freeze. We are pleased to maintain our priority in the Administration’s energy goals and in the DOE funding request, EDTA will be working with Congress to address the specific areas in which the request is not fully proportionate to the value of the electric drive program or activity.

Download Budget Documents Here:

EDTA Breaks Down Electric Drive Programs in the Budget Here:

The request included a 4% increase in funds for the Vehicle Technologies program: $325,302,000 versus FY10’s $311,365,000. 

Notably, the Vehicle Technologies program goal is defined as “domestic production of more than 500,000 PHEV’s” which would seem to be a refinement on the Administration’s existing goal of “1 million PHEV’s on the road by 2015.”
    
The program includes a 14% increase for the electric drive-specific programs, which are established in a separate line item “Batteries and Electric Drive Technology” - formerly Hybrid Electric Systems - in the Vehicle Technologies budget. Program goals include reducing battery kWh costs to $300/kWh by 2014 and reducing total electric drive costs. The request for the program is $120,637,000 compared to last year’s (activity) total of $101, 405,000. 

Vehicle and Systems Simulation and Testing is flat-funded at $44,328,000. That program includes PHEV demonstrations and evaluations, commercial truck programs (including electrification), with a goal of accumulating 112 million miles of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle testing by 2105.    

At $35.5 million, the Clean Cities program (in Outreach, Deployment and Analysis) would also receive an increase in funding over FY10 to deploy alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure, “focusing on electric transportation infrastructure.” 

The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell budget request is $137 million for FY11, which is $37 million less than Congress provided in FY10. The preamble states that the focus of the program will be on “lowering costs and improving performance of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies for transportation, stationary and portable applications.” 

The largest subprogram decrease is in the Market Transformation Program, which would be restructured to include Safety, Codes and Standards, Education and early market deployment.  However, “early market activities and Education” are “deferred.” So the activities previously performed in the program will not be performed in FY11, but it will perform the Safety and Codes and Standards activities that were in the Vehicle Technologies program in FY10. The funding request is $9,000,000 as compared to the $25,865,000 appropriated in FY2010.

Technology Validation would be funded at $11 million, down from FY10’s $13,097,000.  

$10 million is requested for administering the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program. No funds for new loan solicitations are requested. A $500 million “credit subsidy” is requested for loans issued in the Title XVII Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program for renewable energy systems and efficient end-use energy technologies.

A 12% increase in the DOE’s Office of Science Basic Energy Science program is also proposed. The $1,835,000 total would include funds for 2 new innovations hubs, “Batteries and Energy Storage” and Fuels from Sunlight. 

In Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability’s Research and Development Programs, $39.3 million is requested for Smart Grid Research and Development including the development of systems to support plug-in vehicles. The Energy Storage program, focused on stationary energy storage is budgeted at $40 million.