Taking the wheel

July 22, 2016 – Sitting in the driver’s seat comes naturally to Ron Graves, the recently retired head of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s sustainable transportation program.

Graves has logged more than 100 days on national racetracks like Daytona, Road Atlanta, and Pocono where he routinely reaches speeds of 175 mph in high performance driving events. He jokes that it is not the speed that is dangerous at these events; it’s the “sudden stops.”

His early race track skills were developed in a DeTomaso Pantera that he restored, rebuilding the engine, transmission, brakes and updating the original pumpkin orange paint to a shiny red.

“Learning to drive fast in a car with bad brakes and diabolical handling has advantages in the long run,” he said.

This passion for cars is not only a hobby—it has driven Graves’ career.

“Being a gearhead has enhanced networking with automotive executives and technology leaders over the years,” Graves said. “Most of their leadership are ‘car people’.”


In his 39 years at ORNL, Graves worked closely with vehicle experts from across the industry through research and development partnerships and by serving on technical teams, working groups, and committees for the Department of Energy, U.S. DRIVE, 21st Century Truck Partnership, the Coordinating Research Council, and the National Academy of Sciences.

He was the first ORNL staff member elected as a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers International and has a slew of honors to his credit from DOE and organizations such as the Tennessee Automotive Manufacturers Association, which recently inducted him into their Hall of Fame for his positive impact on the state’s automotive industry.

The lab twice has contributed to the implementation of national clean fuel regulations and helped make non-sulfur “clean diesel” a reality, saving hundreds of millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions and virtually eliminating pollutants from diesel exhaust. His teams developed award-winning research instruments that industry cited as ‘helping tune engine combustion in ways not thought possible’ and gave new insights on emission control chemistry.

As sustainable transportation program director from 2010 to 2016, Graves expanded the use of ORNL’s big science tools to tackle vehicle technology challenges and helped implement new Department of Transportation-funded projects in transportation cybersecurity and battery safety.

Graves was a key driver behind the creation of ORNL’s engines and emissions research capabilities as well as the growth of its $65 million dollar sustainable transportation program. It was Graves who made the quiet suggestion to lab leadership in the late 1970s that ORNL could contribute in addressing the transportation-related national challenges of petroleum dependence and declining air quality.

In the Q&A below, he shares his historical perspective along with how he sees the future of transportation.

How did you get started in vehicle research?

I did engine, fuels, and vehicle R&D while an undergraduate and grad student. I participated in the Urban Vehicle Design Competition of 1972, one of the earliest student vehicle design competitions. When I was hired in at ORNL, I was in the Reactor Division. My early work focused on thermodynamic analysis of advanced power systems for the grid and coal combustion. That background in thermodynamics would prove useful later for more engine R&D.

There was no vehicle program at the lab at that time.
I had a great supervisor who let me start an internal transportation working group, and we got a little funding for background studies, visits to industry, and writing seed money proposals.

How did transportation research at ORNL grow from there?

We got seed money to do experiments with coal-derived diesel fuel in a small engine. Looking back, it was not the best science, but it was enough to get the notice of leaders at the lab and DOE and helped us start in a new field.

ORNL was awarded leadership of the DOE alternative fuels program, exploring synthetic fuels, alcohols, and natural gas. DOE agreed to build a moderate lab capability at ORNL as part of this initiative. It was the beginning of what we now call the Fuels, Engines, and Emissions Research Center. When we started, we were in a repurposed “abandoned” building on the Y-12 site.

In parallel, David Greene was initiating what became the Center for Transportation Analysis, and Tony Schaffhauser and his team were building a program on high-temperature ceramics for advanced engines that would give rise to the High Temperature Materials Laboratory. Thomas Zacharia and others led computational work on crash modeling in the 1990s, bringing ORNL computational capabilities to prominence.

Research capabilities and industry partnerships expanded from there, even before an integrated transportation program was established at ORNL. I am grateful for having the opportunity to lead ORNL’s entire Sustainable Transportation Program for 6 years. We made great strides and impact by marshalling researchers and capabilities from across the laboratory, applying big science tools like Titan and the Spallation Neutron Source along with materials characterization and vehicle-specific capabilities to discover new knowledge and deliver solutions for industry not achievable by any single group or discipline.

How have things changed over your career in transportation R&D?

For a long time, a key goal of DOE was to “turn the corner” on gasoline consumption. That meant to see consumption stop increasing and actually decline. I thought that would never happen during my career, but it is reality for cars. Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards, E10 fuel, and vehicle technology have worked. Fuel consumption and GHG emissions from freight trucks are the fastest growing source now.

The computational controls in cars and trucks are mind- boggling compared to 1980, as is the computational power we have to support R&D. Cars and trucks are 99 percent cleaner in terms of emissions. Lead in gasoline is almost gone worldwide. Cars are much safer and much more numerous. With nearly twice as many cars on the road, congestion is worse.

Can you share a couple of high points?

There are so many facets of transportation that have been touched by ORNL -- it deserves a separate article. I was lead author on DOE’s first heavy truck R&D plan in 1982, and that DOE program is still active under the banner of 21st Century Truck and SuperTruck, where we were on two industry teams in the last few years. Another is the Vice Presidential Award received by ORNL researchers from across the laboratory in 1997 along with four other national labs, Ford, GM, and Chrysler. The honor was in recognition of achievements in exhaust aftertreatment emissions controls research. ORNL is still a R&D leader in this field.

Of course, the ORNL research that led to new EPA rules to reduce diesel sulfur in 2000 had huge lasting impact. DOE considers it one of the all-time greatest contributions to the transportation system. Explaining why combustion engines were not constrained by the “Carnot efficiency” was also provocative and impactful and helped revitalize engine R&D.

The construction of the National Transportation Research Center in 2000 and its certification by DOE as the only national user facility dedicated to transportation has been vital to our achievements and impact.

More recently, I would highlight our development of wireless charging technology for electric vehicles, impacts in battery technology coming from the Battery Manufacturing Facility, new aluminum alloys for next- generation engines, and powertrain test procedures for heavy-duty trucks—the last of which were cited by the EPA in a recent proposed rulemaking. ORNL also manages fueleconomy.gov, DOE’s most visited website. Of course the 3D printed Shelby Cobra brought tremendous positive attention to ORNL’s additive manufacturing innovations and the power of ORNL’s sustainable transportation program and Manufacturing Demonstration Facility working together.

Where do you see things headed, in terms of transportation and related research?

Autonomous vehicles appear poised for deployment, but with challenges like cybersecurity and uncertain impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Freight movement needs a paradigm shift. We’ve come a long way in making vehicles more efficient, but those vehicles enter a suboptimal system. Looking at transportation as a system could yield significant gains in energy efficiency.

For vehicles, I think we are working on the right things -- lightweighting, batteries, hybrid systems, engines. 3D printing seems to have tremendous potential to improve materials and components for vehicles. More broadly and philosophically, I think society needs to be more determined and passionate about combating global warming contributions from transportation, for example being more aggressive on renewable fuels. As a nation and society, we eventually became convinced about eliminating lead in gasoline, about adding vehicle safety equipment, about eliminating diesel soot, and we made huge strides to fix these issues. We still seem a little tentative on climate change.