42 U.S.C. § 13435 — Electric motor vehicles and associated equipment research and development

(a) General. The Secretary must run a research and development program on electric motor vehicles and related equipment, under the Federal Nonnuclear Energy Research and Development Act of 1974. This must be done together with the electric utility industry, the automobile industry, battery makers, and anyone else the Secretary thinks is appropriate. (b) Comprehensive plan. The Secretary must write a comprehensive 5-year plan for this program, and update it every two years for at least 10 years after October 24, 1992. The Secretary must write the plan together with the EPA, the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of Commerce, other relevant federal agencies, the electric utility industry, electric vehicle makers, the U.S. auto industry, and others as needed. The plan must rank research areas most important to commercializing electric vehicles (including advanced batteries); describe federal agencies' program pieces, management, and responsibilities; set out strategies and yearly technical milestones for major projects; estimate costs for each agency and each year; describe how technology will be transferred to users; propose how non-federal groups can take part; and include anything else the Secretary thinks is useful. Within 180 days after October 24, 1992, the Secretary had to send the plan to Congress, and each two-year update after that too. (c) Cooperative agreements. Consistent with the plan, the Secretary may make cooperative research and development agreements with industry in areas like: efficient electric power trains (motors, controllers, hybrid systems) to extend vehicle range; lightweight structures to cut vehicle weight; advanced high-energy, high-power batteries with better range or recharge life; hybrid power trains that pair an electric motor and rechargeable battery with an onboard liquid-fuel engine, aiming to boost fuel economy while keeping normal acceleration; batteries and fuel cells for hybrid vehicles; fuel cells and fuel cell systems as a vehicle's main power source; and photovoltaics (solar cells) for electric vehicles. (d) Solicitation of proposals. Within 1 year after October 24, 1992, the Secretary had to ask for proposals for the cooperative agreements described in (c). After that, the Secretary may ask for more proposals whenever doing so could help develop electric vehicles and related equipment. (e) Cost-sharing. For any cooperative agreement under this section other than the fuel-cell agreements in subsection (j), at least 50 percent of the project's direct costs must come from non-federal sources — which can be cash, staff time, services, equipment, or other resources. The Secretary may lower that non-federal share if doing so is necessary given the project's technical risk and is needed to meet this section's goals. (f) Deployment. The Secretary must run a program to speed up the use of advanced battery technology in electric vehicles. This program must include taking stock of advanced battery and electric vehicle technologies and how ready they are for commercial use, and creating a federal-industry information exchange — through workshops, publications, conferences, and a database — to help the public and private sectors use these technologies. (g) Domestic parts manufacturers. The Secretary, working with the Secretary of Commerce, must issue rules to make sure electric vehicle and equipment manufacturers taking part in this program don't discriminate against U.S. vehicle-parts manufacturers in how they buy parts. (h) Hold harmless. Nothing in this section changes any battery-related joint venture or consortium agreements that domestic auto makers had already started before October 24, 1992. (i) Consultation. The Secretary must consult with the EPA and the Secretary of Transportation while carrying out this section. (j) Fuel cells for transportation. The Secretary must build and run a full research, development, and demonstration program for fuel cells and related systems used in transportation, through one or more cooperative programs joining industry, government, and research institutions, to develop and demonstrate fuel cells as the main power source for private and mass-transit vehicles and other mobile uses. This work must be designed around one or more priorities: near- to mid-term potential to become commercial; the ability to run on a variety of renewable and non-fossil fuels; how much it cuts emissions and saves energy; the potential to reuse fuel cell technology developed by the Department of Defense and NASA; and the potential to build on progress from electric vehicle research, stationary fuel cell research, and other research this subchapter authorizes. Projects the Secretary picks must apply to: passenger vehicles; vans and utility vehicles; light rail systems and locomotives; trucks (including long-haul, dump, and garbage trucks); passenger buses; mobile refrigeration systems that don't use chlorofluorocarbons; marine vessels (including recreational marine engines); and mobile engines and power generation, including recreational generators and industrial and construction equipment. In each of fiscal years 1993 through 1996, the Secretary must set up programs covering each of those eight application types, based on the priorities above, so that by the end of that period every type has research underway. These fuel cell initiatives come in addition to any other fuel cell programs already authorized by other law. (k) Definitions. For this section: "advanced battery technology" means electrochemical storage devices and systems — including fuel cells — plus the technology needed to charge, discharge, recharge, or regenerate them, used to power an electric motor vehicle and its associated equipment. "Associated equipment" means equipment needed to regenerate, refuel, or recharge the batteries or other electric power source of an electric motor vehicle; for electric-hybrid vehicles, it also includes non-petroleum equipment needed solely to demonstrate those vehicles. "Electric motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle mainly powered by an electric motor drawing current from rechargeable batteries, fuel cells, solar arrays, or other electric current sources, and may include an electric-hybrid vehicle. "Electric-hybrid vehicle" means a vehicle mainly powered by an electric motor drawing current from rechargeable batteries, fuel cells, or other sources, that also relies on — or can run on — a non-electric power source.