NETL’s work to evolve advanced vehicle technologies, including electric vehicles, and expand their use on American highways has been recognized for excellence by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO).

Each year, VTO presents awards to individuals and teams from partner institutions for contributions to overall program efforts and to recognize research, development, demonstration and deployment achievements in specific areas.

The Lab’s Brett Aristegui, Dan Nardozzi, Trev Hall, David Kirschner, Neil Kirschner, Erin Russell-Story and Darren Stevenson received a 2022 Team Award at the VTO recent Annual Merit Review Plenary Session.

The award recognized NETL for its dedication to VTO projects and commitment to the national network of Clean Cities Coalitions. Since 2006, NETL has supported DOE’s Clean Cities program, which fosters the economic, environmental and energy security of the United States by working locally to advance affordable, domestic transportation fuels, energy-efficient mobility systems and other fuel-saving technologies and practices.

NETL houses the DOE Clean Cities Regional Managers who assist and guide a nationwide network of DOE-designated Clean Cities Coalitions. The Clean Cities network includes approximately 20,000 energetic stakeholders, who collaboratively work to advance new and energy-efficient transportation fuels and technologies. Annually, this effort reduces and replaces the use of approximately 1 billion gasoline gallon equivalents of conventional fuels in the transportation sector, greatly reducing harmful emissions.

NETL’s team directly supports the VTO from early-stage research and development to deployment activities. Technology areas under VTO include batteries, charging and electric vehicles, advanced engines and fuels, lightweight materials and technology integration. NETL’s involvement includes executing funding opportunities, negotiating and managing resulting projects, coordinating interagency agreements and managing contracts to support opportunities using renewable and alternative fuels.

“Our team has the knowledge and experience to make sound decisions to guide and manage technical projects for EERE and VTO. It’s rewarding to be recognized for our contributions as we continue to advance efforts to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions produced by the transportation sector,” said Neil Kirschner, senior project manager.

“The work NETL does to increase the effectiveness and minimize the carbon footprint of transportation through the development of advanced fuels such as hydrogen and other technologies will greatly assist EERE’s mission and help us move toward a net-zero emissions economy,” Kirschner said.

NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By leveraging its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.