I. Title of the Best Practice

II. Overview of the Best Practice

A. General Description
In 1993, the United States Government and the Chief Executive Officers of the three major domestic automakers announced the Partnership for A New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV). Partners in the PNGV program include seven federal agencies (led by the U.S. Department of Energy and 20 national research laboratories), the U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), and Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors.

PNGV is a cooperative research effort to develop automobiles with very low emissions, safe, attractive performance, and affordable prices that get up to three times the fuel efficiency of conventional vehicles sold today. This would mean that a typical midsize car would be able to achieve 80 miles per gallon without compromising emissions, safety, performance, and affordability. For each of the three automobile manufacturers involved, the goal is to produce multiple production-ready prototypes by the year 2004.

The PNGV program seeks to link the research efforts of various government agencies and their associated national laboratories with those of the U.S. automobile manufacturers in the pursuit of three specific, interrelated goals. The first two goals are seen as relatively short-term and mutually supportive of the longer-term third goal:

Goal 1: Significantly improve national competitiveness in manufacturing. PNGV seeks to improve the productivity of the U.S. manufacturing base by significantly upgrading U.S. automotive technology, including the adoption of agile and flexible manufacturing and the reduction of cost and lead times, while reducing the environmental impact and/or improving product quality.

Goal 2: Implement commercially viable innovations from ongoing research in conventional vehicles. PNGV will pursue technology advances that can lead to near-term improvements in the fuel efficiency and reductions in the emissions of standard vehicle designs, while pursuing advances to maintain safety performance. Research will focus on technologies that reduce the demand for energy from the engine and drivetrain. Throughout the research program, the U.S. automotive industry has pledged to apply those commercially viable technologies resulting from this research that would be expected to significantly increase vehicle fuel efficiency and improve emissions.

Goal 3: Develop vehicles that can achieve up to three times the fuel efficiency of comparable 1994 family sedans. PNGV will increase vehicle fuel efficiency to up to three times that of the average 1994 Concorde/Taurus/Lumina automobiles with equivalent cost of ownership adjusted for economics.

B. Special Characteristics of the Best Practice
PNGV represents an innovative approach to attacking the challenges of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction in the transportation sector. It has proven to be an efficient way to focus national research efforts on evaluating technical alternatives. Through the PNGV program, there are a coordinated portfolio of hundreds of research projects underway at government, auto company, and supplier levels -- all focused on producing a new generation of automobiles.

Government and industry jointly and equally fund research and development (R&D) on the very high efficiency passenger automobile design. The research addresses, for example, vehicle engineering technology, engine and driveline efficiency improvements, fuel cells, power electronics, lightweight body parts, manufacturing processes, and systems analysis.

No vehicle exists that achieves the PNGV's challenging technical goals.

PNGV is targeting higher mpg levels, larger size, and higher production volumes than existing hybrids are able to achieve. Existing hybrids do not meet the comparable equivalent lifecycle cost criteria of the PNGV program. To date, the PNGV multiple goals of price, performance, size, utility, safety, and emissions reductions are unmet.

PNGV has played a significant role in helping spur international competition in advanced vehicle technologies that can produce cleaner, more efficient cars in the future. All of the world's consumers will be the beneficiaries of this competition.

PNGV addresses fuel cells and other aspects of full electric drive which existing vehicles do not embody, such as designing the fuel cell stack and reformer system internally.

The National Research Council (NRC) - the operating agency of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering -- provides external oversight of the PNGV program, including annual independent technical reviews. The NRC reviews of the PNGV program can be found on the Internet (see list of references, below).

C. Reasons for Inclusion as a Best Practice
PNGV is an innovative and emerging approach for addressing national technological challenges. The PNGV program is a voluntary, cooperative partnership between the government and the automobile industry to acquire fuel economy and environmental improvements in U.S. transportation sector. It is not a substitute for emissions and fuel economy regulation, but is viewed as an innovative alternative approach. PNGV is at the forefront of an emerging trend among industrialized countries, and has stimulated the launching of the EuCar effort in the European Community and the ACE project in Japan. Each have goals similar to the PNGV. In fact, the ACE project compares itself to EuCar and PNGV. Its deadline for assessment of prototype vehicles is 2003, in an effort to "ace" PNGV's 2004 timeframe.

Some energy efficient technologies developed as a result of the program's Goal 1 and 2 objectives have already been adapted by the manufacturers. According to USCAR, at least 50 different vehicles in the U.S. market currently use PNGV spillover technologies designed to improve fuel economy or reduce the energy intensity of manufacture. Although not quantified, these improvements enhance the efficiency of the vehicle or the manufacturing process. For example:

Intelligent induction hardening of suspension parts allows General Motors to make Saturn suspension parts that are lighter and consume less energy to manufacture.
Hydroformed aluminum side rails increased chassis and roof stiffness and reduced vehicle mass in some Chevrolets and Cadillacs.
Composite heat shields in 1998 Ford Explorers saved 10 pounds per vehicle.
Composite fenders in Lincoln Town Cars, Grand Marquis and Ford Crown Victorias saved 5 pounds per vehicle.
Daimler-Chrysler saw a 10 percent reduction on steel door systems.
Reduced rolling resistance tires that improve gasoline mileage are now available from Goodyear, following their participation in a PNGV partnership agreement with Sandia National Laboratory.

While each of these improvements from the incorporation of new technologies only saves a few pounds, or slightly improves efficiency, taken together they demonstrate that PNGV is already making a contribution to increased automotive efficiency. This efficiency improvement translates directly into greenhouse gas reductions.

As a research effort, PNGV has the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gases. The major thrust of PNGV is a long-term (Goal 3) R&D effort with significant GHG reduction potential. The greenhouse gas reductions goals from utilization of PNGV technologies are 12 MMTCE in 2010 and 30 MMTCE in 2020. Expectations vary and depend on attribution of efficiency gains that happen outside obvious PNGV type vehicles, and the degree of program funding provided. PNGV is on track to achieve its GHG reduction potential, as evidenced by the PNGV partners' selection of the most promising technologies to pursue and the impressive number of technical advances achieved in the first five years.

The PNGV program met its technology selection schedule to narrow the technologies included in the program to those considered most promising to meet the PNGV technical challenge. The technology areas selected include fuel cells, power electronics, four-stoke direct-injection engines, and lightweight materials.

The NRC 5th review concluded that "significant progress" has been made by the PNGV program. The NRC notes specific areas where technological progress has been made in past years, including development of a four-stroke direct injection engine; a practical automotive fuel-cell system; electrochemical battery cells and modules; safety testing systems; and electrical and electronic systems.

In March 1999, the White House honored 15 automotive PNGV researchers for their breakthrough in fuel processing technology to power fuel cells. Other past technical accomplishments associated with the PNGV partnership include:

Vehicle Engineering Technology
Body Structure/Material Alternatives Project
Energy-Efficient Occupant Comfort System (Air Conditioning)
Energy-Efficient "Run Flat" Tires

Internal Combustion Engine Technology
Reduction of Nitrogen Oxide Emissions for Lean Burn Engine Technology
Plasma Treatment of Automotive Exhaust to Reduce Emissions
Design of Small Compression-Ignition, Direct-Injection Engines

Fuel Cells
Development of Computer Models for Automotive Fuel Cell Systems
Development of Advanced High-Performing PEM Fuel Cell Stack
High-Efficiency, Direct-Hydrogen Fuel Cell System for Automobiles
Increasing Fuel Cell Tolerance to Fuel Impurities
World's First Gasoline-to-Fuel Cell Power Demonstration
On-Board Processors for Fuel Cells
30-Kilowatt Liquid Methanol-Fueled Proton Exchange
Membrane Fuel Cell Power System
Microchannel Fuel Processing Components for Automotive Fuel Cells
Automotive Fuel Cell Technologies from DOE National Laboratories
Quick-Start Catalytic Fuel-Flexible Partial-Oxidation
Reformer for Automotive Fuel Cells

Energy Storage
Electrode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries
High-power Lithium-Ion Batteries

Power Electronics
Resonant Snubber Inverter for Hybrid Vehicles
Engine and Battery Fluid Condition Sensor Development
Power Electronic Building Blocks Development Program
Active Load Emulator for Power Drive Systems

Materials and Structures
Adhesive Bonding Technologies for Automotive Structural Components
Durability of Lightweight Composite Structures
Understanding the Effects of Environmental Factors on Structural Composites
Rapid Tooling for Functional Prototyping of Metal Mold Processes

Manufacturing
Intelligent Resistant Welding
Laser Welding of Aluminum
Aluminum Die Casting Efficiencies Enhancement Project
Dry Machining of Aluminum
High Throughput Hole Making
Leak Testing/Detection
Springback Predictability Project
High-Performance, Environmentally Compatible Painting Technology

System Analysis
PNGV Simulation Tool

The impressive number of technical advances achieved in the first five years of the PNGV program has stimulated similar efforts all over the world, and has created pressure to accelerate technological progress internationally.

The PNGV program promotes the development of fuel-efficient technologies that may be useful throughout the entire Light Duty Vehicle (LDV) market. The program is on schedule for each of the automobile manufacturers to develop an LDV concept vehicle in the year 2000.

The PNGV policy approach can contribute to the formulation of future policies to prevent global warming. PNGV focuses on mid-size or family cars. However, the technologies being developed can be adapted to other car sizes, as well as Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) and other Light Duty Trucks. In 1999, Vice President Gore initiated discussions with the three automakers to add SUVs to the PNGV program with specific mileage goals.

Other policy goals are served by the PNGV program. PNGV serves other public policy goals of energy security and consumer mobility. It also is consistent with criteria pollutant goals. Technology developed as part of the PNGV program will meet expected vehicle emission standards.

External oversight of the PNGV program ensures good policy implementation. Clear goals, clear cost-funding and cost-sharing rules, and significant outside oversight, including independent annual reviews by the National Academy of Sciences (through the NRC), has ensured effective implementation of the policy.

PNGV can be appropriate for technical transfers to developing countries. Given that PNGV technology will result in "production-volume" midsize cars able to achieve high fuel economy without compromising emissions, safety, performance, and affordability, the PNGV automobiles will be appropriate for technology transfer to developing countries. Consequently, PNGV automobiles can therefore contribute to the prevention of global warming in developing countries. Additionally, technology developed as part of the PNGV program is applicable to vehicles designed specifically for emerging markets. For example, Daimler-Chrysler has indicated that they will apply their composites work to the design of a lightweight body of about six parts that can be easily molded and assembled in developing countries.

III. Categorizing the Best Practice

1. Classification(s) (Indicate main classification(s) only.)
( ) Regulatory Approach (Policy approaches-- regulations, incentives, etc.)
( ) Practical Action (Action undertaken independently by a social actor)
( X ) Social Network Mechanism (Cooperative structure)

2. Social Actor(s) Involved (Indicate main social actor(s) only.)
( ) Citizens
( X ) Central government
( ) Local government
( X ) Business

3. Sector(s) (Indicate main sector(s) only.)
( ) Energy
( ) Household
( X ) Transportation
( ) Industrial Enterprises
( ) Other (Non-Industrial) Business
( ) Agriculture/ Land Use/ Forestry
( ) Other (Please specify.)

4. Target Greenhouse Gas(es)
( ) CO2
( ) CH4
( ) N2O
( ) HFC
( ) PFC
( ) SF6
( X ) Other While PNGV does not specifically target greenhouse gases, its efficiency goals translate directly into CO2 reductions. PNGV vehicles are expected to meet or exceed expected vehicle emission standards for criteria pollutants.

IV. List of References

http://www.ott.doe.gov/oaat/pngv.html
http://www.uscar.org/pngv/index.htm
http://www.ta.doc.gov/pngv/news/PeerReviews.htm

V. Please indicate a person to contact for more information about this Best Practice.

Contact:	Edward Wall
Title:	PNGV Coordinator
Organization:	U.S. Department of Energy
Email:	edward.wall@ee.doe.gov
Tel:	202-586-0410
Fax:	202-586-7409
Address:	1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585 USA