ORNL to Help Auto Industry

ORNL will lend a hand to the U.S. auto industry by supplying research and development work initiated through the U.S. Automotive Partnership for Advancing Research and Technologies, or USAutoPARTs, collaborative. The new R&D role was announced Jan. 17, 2008, at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Made up of a consortium of federal, state and private partners, USAutoPARTs will perform pre-competitive, collaborative research to advance cost-effective emerging technologies and ultimately speed the commercialization of automotive technologies. Initially, research consortia will focus on advanced lightweight materials, electrical and electronic thermal management, and engine combustion and emission after-treatment. Signing a memorandum of intent to participate in the alliance were Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Department of Energy Under Secretary Clarence Albright, and Neil De Koker, president and CEO of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association, or OESA. USAutoPARTs will be located in Shelby Township, Michigan, in a 56,000 square foot comprehensive vehicle R&D center with established laboratory infrastructure that will support up to 175 persons. The facility was previously occupied by the Delphi Corporation.

Through USAutoPARTs, automotive suppliers can take advantage of the unique expertise of the national laboratory system to aid them in developing technologies and components for America¹s next generation of automobiles in a cost-effective manner. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has some of the world's leading facilities for materials research and computational modeling, and is internationally recognized for its research in vehicle technologies.

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ORNL is a multi-program research and development facility managed by UT-Battelle for the US Department of Energy
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