The Vehicle Technologies Office works with its national laboratories and industry partners to collect and report data on vehicle performance, research projects, and the transportation sector. 

Transportation Sector Data

VTO publishes the Transportation Energy Data Book annually (both in PDF form and with downloadable Excel files) with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  The Data Book compiles information on petroleum consumption, vehicle use, environmental impacts, household vehicle characteristics, and fleet characteristics. It also collaborates with Oak Ridge to publish the Vehicle Technologies Market Report, which describes major trends in light and heavy-duty markets.

VTO also publishes the Fact of the Week, a fact with an accompanying graph or chart, to draw attention to particularly useful statistics.  In particular, the Historical Gas Prices and The Petroleum Gap graphs provide a very useful context for understanding how the transportation sector has changed over time.

VTO’s FuelEconomy.gov and the Alternative Fuels Data Center host graphs, maps, and downloadable data sets on vehicle fuel economy, alternative fuel use, and alternative fuel vehicles and stations.

Vehicle Performance Data

The Vehicle Technologies Office supports the Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity, which collects on-road and in-laboratory data on advanced and alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure.  These results provide benchmark data that researchers can use to develop technology models and guide future research and development. Over the years, the program has tested a variety of technologies including hybrid electric, plug-in electric, neighborhood electric, start-stop hybrid, natural gas, clean diesel, and hydrogen internal combustion engine vehicles as well as electric vehicle supply equipment and batteries.

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, as well as other testing activities, VTO’s partners have collected millions of miles of data on hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles. While the Vehicle Technologies Office hosts data on the most recent results, Idaho National Laboratory hosts the full AVTA archive that goes back to the 1990s.  This archive includes test results of vehicles and technologies that VTO’s partners are no longer collecting data on, such as oil bypass filters.