OpportunityTitle: Pioneering Railroad, Oceanic and Plane Electrification with 1K Energy Storage Systems (Propel-1K)
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: See Section III. of the FOA.
Description: To obtain a copy of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) please go to the ARPA-E website at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov. To apply to this FOA, Applicants must register with and submit application materials through ARPA-E eXCHANGE (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Registration.aspx). For detailed guidance on using ARPA-E eXCHANGE, please refer to the ARPA-E eXCHANGE User Guide (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx). ARPA-E will not review or consider concept papers submitted through other means. For problems with ARPA-E eXCHANGE, email ExchangeHelp@hq.doe.gov (with FOA name and number in the subject line).Questions about this FOA? Check the Frequently Asked Questions available at http://arpa-e.energy.gov/faq. For questions that have not already been answered, email ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov.Agency Overview:The Advanced Research Projects Agency &#8211; Energy (ARPA-E), an organization within the Department of Energy (DOE), is chartered by Congress in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-69), as amended by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-358), as further amended by the Energy Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-260) to:&#8220;(A) to enhance the economic and energy security of the United States through the development of energy technologies that&#8212;(i) reduce imports of energy from foreign sources;(ii) reduce energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases;(iii) improve the energy efficiency of all economic sectors;(iv) provide transformative solutions to improve the management, clean-up, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel; and(v) improve the resilience, reliability, and security of infrastructure to produce, deliver, and store energy; and(B) to ensure that the United States maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.&#8221;ARPA-E issues this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) under its authorizing statute codified at 42 U.S.C. &#167; 16538. The FOA and any awards made under this FOA are subject to 2 C.F.R. Part 200 as supplemented by 2 C.F.R. Part 910.ARPA-E funds research on and the development of transformative science and technology solutions to address the energy and environmental missions of the Department. The agency focuses on technologies that can be meaningfully advanced with a modest investment over a defined period of time in order to catalyze the translation from scientific discovery to early-stage technology. For the latest news and information about ARPA-E, its programs and the research projects currently supported, see: http://arpa-e.energy.gov/.ARPA-E funds transformational research. Existing energy technologies generally progress on established &#8220;learning curves&#8221; where refinements to a technology and the economies of scale that accrue as manufacturing and distribution develop drive down the cost/performance metric in a gradual fashion. This continual improvement of a technology is important to its increased commercial deployment and is appropriately the focus of the private sector or the applied technology offices within DOE. By contrast, ARPA-E supports transformative research that has the potential to create fundamentally new learning curves. ARPA-E technology projects typically start with cost/performance estimates well above the level of an incumbent technology. Given the high risk inherent in these projects, many will fail to progress, but some may succeed in generating a new learning curve with a projected cost/performance metric that is significantly lower than that of the incumbent technology.ARPA-E funds technology with the potential to be disruptive in the marketplace. The mere creation of a new learning curve does not ensure market penetration. Rather, the ultimate value of a technology is determined by the marketplace, and impactful technologies ultimately become disruptive &#8211; that is, they are widely adopted and displace existing technologies from the marketplace or create entirely new markets. ARPA-E understands that definitive proof of market disruption takes time, particularly for energy technologies. Therefore, ARPA-E funds the development of technologies that, if technically successful, have clear disruptive potential, e.g., by demonstrating capability for manufacturing at competitive cost and deployment at scale.ARPA-E funds applied research and development. The Office of Management and Budget defines &#8220;applied research&#8221; as an &#8220;original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge&#8230;directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective&#8221; and defines &#8220;experimental development&#8221; as &#8220;creative and systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience, which is directed at producing new products or processes or improving existing products or processes.&#8221; (http://science.energy.gov/). Office of Science national scientific user facilities (http://science.energy.gov/user-facilities/) are open to all researchers, including ARPA-E Applicants and awardees. These facilities provide advanced tools of modern science including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources and neutron sources, as well as facilities for studying the nanoworld, the environment, and the atmosphere. Projects focused on early-stage R&amp;D for the improvement of technology along defined roadmaps may be more appropriate for support through the DOE applied energy offices including: the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (http://www.eere.energy.gov/), the Office of Fossil Energy (http://fossil.energy.gov/), the Office of Nuclear Energy (http://www.energy.gov/ne/office-nuclear-energy), and the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (http://energy.gov/oe/office-electricity-delivery-and-energy-reliability). Applicants interested in receiving financial assistance for basic research (defined by the Office of Management and Budget as &#8220;experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts&#8221;) should contact the DOE&#8217;s Office of Science (http://science.energy.gov/). Office of Science national scientific user facilities (http://science.energy.gov/user-facilities/) are open to all researchers, including ARPA-E Applicants and awardees. These facilities provide advanced tools of modern science including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources and neutron sources, as well as facilities for studying the nanoworld, the environment, and the atmosphere. Projects focused on early-stage R&amp;D for the improvement of technology along defined roadmaps may be more appropriate for support through the DOE applied energy offices including: the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (http://www.eere.energy.gov/), the Office of Fossil Energy (http://fossil.energy.gov/), the Office of Nuclear Energy (http://www.energy.gov/ne/office-nuclear-energy), and the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (http://energy.gov/oe/office-electricity-delivery-and-energy-reliability).Program Overview:In the United States (U.S.), transportation is responsible for approximately 29% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually.3 Light-duty vehicles, i.e., passenger and small commercial vehicles, account for 58% of transportation GHG emissions, and battery-powered electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as a lower-emission solution for many applications. In these cases, the energy density of existing battery technologies is sufficient while the priority areas for improvement include cost, safety, lifetime, charge time, and supply chain sustainability. The majority of the remaining 42% of transportation GHG emissions are attributed to long-distance trucking (23%), aviation (8%), railroads (2%), and maritime (3%). The contributions of individual transportation categories to GHG emissions according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are shown in Figure 1.Global energy consumption is expected to increase by 50% between now and 2050.5 At the same time, attaining net zero or even negative GHG emissions is critical to our climate. Electrification of the transportation sector is a bold and essential strategy toward achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. A multitude of technologies and approaches will be required to achieve these ambitious goals.Batteries and fuel cells represent potential solutions; however, for heavy-duty vehicles, vessels and aircraft, the maximum achievable energy density (by mass and by volume) for both existing and anticipated next-generation electrochemical energy storage technologies is impractically too low. This Pioneering Railroad, Oceanic and Plane ELectrification with 1K Energy Storage Systems (PROPEL-1K) program aims to support the research and development of alternative approaches to energy storage to ultimately achieve a &gt; 4x improvement compared to existing state-of-the-art (SoA) options. The technical scope encompasses electrochemical and/or chemical solutions that do not require hydrocarbon-based fuels (fossil or synthetic). The targets for these energy storage system (ESS) solutions are 1000 Watt-hour per kilogram (Wh/kg) and 1000 Watt-hour per liter (Wh/L) (so-called &#8220;1K&#8221; technologies) at the end of life (EOL) and at the net ESS level. Of particular interest are technologies that are not mere extensions of current mainstream electrochemical device thinking or short-term technology road maps. The primary program objective is to develop exceptionally high-energy storage solutions, capable of catalyzing broad electrification of the aviation, railroad, and maritime transportation sectors.To view the FOA in its entirety, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.
GrantorContactEmailDescription: ARPA-E CO
GrantorContactText: ARPA-E CO