Recent breakthroughs in vehicle technology, batteries, charging and power electronics have changed the way that vehicle engineers and policy makers consider the future of transportation. Which vehicle technologies are hype, and which are on track for production? Electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, hybrids, diesels, direct injection gasoline, fuel cells and bio fuels are all the focus of federal research programs. Argonne National Laboratory has been designated by the Department of Energy's Office of Vehicle Technologies as the lead national laboratory for the simulation, validation and laboratory evaluation of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, electric vehicles and advanced combustion engines.

Which technology is the leading candidate to solve our nation's energy problems? Which technologies have near term potential? I will discuss Argonne's work in advanced vehicle technology and will provide a candid and blunt assessment of the latest vehicle research and will highlight some of the limitations or shortcomings of advanced technologies, including an outline of some of the critical steps that need to be accomplished to make the next generation of vehicles a reality.

Argonne Physics Division Colloquium Schedule