Partnerships are essential to carrying out the Vehicle Technologies Office’s mission to develop and deploy on-road transportation technologies that will strengthen U.S. energy security, economic vitality, and quality of life. VTO currently collaborates with industry on research through the US DRIVE and 21st Century Truck partnerships and on deployment with Clean Cities and other local and regional networks. However, there are a number of other opportunities for researchers and other stakeholders to work with VTO. 

VTO periodically announces competitive funding opportunities where organizations can apply for financial support.  These projects, established through cooperative agreements, generally require some level of cost-share from the awardee.  VTO chooses awardees based on the strength of their technical applications, relevance to our research strategy, and other criteria described in the individual solicitations. 

While most funding opportunities are open to a wide array of applicants, the Small Business Innovations Research and Small Business Technology Transfer solicitations are specifically targeted to small businesses. VTO, through broader DOE efforts, supports SBIR/STTR to increase commercialization of technology developed through DOE-supported research and development, stimulate innovation in the private sector, and improve the return on investment from federally funded research.

A number of DOE’s National Laboratories host multidisciplinary transportation research centers with unique resources that can help researchers and manufacturers.  From carbon fiber testing facilities to supercomputers, these tools can enable research and development that individual organizations may not be able to carry out on their own.

Once private organizations or the National Laboratories develop technologies, DOE strongly encourages them to find ways to commercialize and bring them to the market.  The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Energy Innovation Portal provides a list of all technologies available for licensing that have resulted from research supported by VTO.