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Media Contacts
![Caption: Jaswinder Sharma makes battery coin cells with a lightweight current collector made of thin layers of aligned carbon fibers in a polymer with carbon nanotubes. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-01/sharma1_1.jpg?h=f7dae89e&itok=JiSsMewF)
Electric vehicles can drive longer distances if their lithium-ion batteries deliver more energy in a lighter package. A prime weight-loss candidate is the current collector, a component that often adds 10% to the weight of a battery cell without contributing energy.
![ORNL intern Jack Orebaugh holds the drone used in his research to help locate human remains. Credit: Lena Shoemaker/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2024-01/jack.jpg?h=0261ddcd&itok=yZ9N5dAh)
Jack Orebaugh, a forensic anthropology major at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has a big heart for families with missing loved ones. When someone disappears in an area of dense vegetation, search and recovery efforts can be difficult, especially when a missing person’s last location is unknown. Recognizing the agony of not knowing what happened to a family or friend, Orebaugh decided to use his internship at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to find better ways to search for lost and deceased people using cameras and drones.
![A collaboration between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Caterpillar Inc. will investigate using methanol as an alternative fuel source for marine vessels. Members of the research team kicked off the project with the installation of a 6-cylinder engine at the Department of Energy’s National Transportation Research Center at ORNL.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-12/2023-P19061%5B26%5D.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=F0MRmlmI)
ORNL and Caterpillar Inc. have entered into a cooperative research and development agreement, or CRADA, to investigate using methanol as an alternative fuel source for four-stroke internal combustion marine engines.
![Eric Nafziger, a technical staff member at the National Transportation Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Hardin Valley Campus, supports the installation of the largest alternative fuels research engines for marine and rail in the U.S. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-12/2023-P16593.jpeg?h=a73d1746&itok=jpdVXbUY)
Within the Department of Energy’s National Transportation Research Center at ORNL’s Hardin Valley Campus, scientists investigate engines designed to help the U.S. pivot to a clean mobility future.
![Frontier, the fastest supercomputer in the world, provides expansive and energy-efficient power, which gives scientists the capability to train large AI models in a responsible way.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/Frontier.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=Xugo8LTI)
ORNL is home to the world's fastest exascale supercomputer, Frontier, which was built in part to facilitate energy-efficient and scalable AI-based algorithms and simulations.
![ORNL researchers Lu Yu and Yaocai Bai examine vials that contain a chemical solution that causes the cobalt and lithium to separate from a spent battery, followed by a second stage when cobalt precipitates in the bottom. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/2023-P12386_0.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=CVJOHRVM)
Used lithium-ion batteries from cell phones, laptops and a growing number of electric vehicles are piling up, but options for recycling them remain limited mostly to burning or chemically dissolving shredded batteries.
![Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers took a connected and automated vehicle out of the virtual proving ground and onto a public road to determine energy savings when it is operated under predictive control strategies. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-11/CAV_image02_0.jpg?h=d1cb525d&itok=0cK78ri0)
ORNL researchers determined that a connected and automated vehicle, or CAV, traveling on a multilane highway with integrated traffic light timing control can maximize energy efficiency and achieve up to 27% savings.
![Sam Hollifield displays a prototype of the Secure Hijack, Intrusion and Exploit Layered Detector, or SHIELD, the device monitoring the cybersecurity of the semi-truck. Credit: Lena Shoemaker/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/holifield_0.jpg?h=b831e800&itok=CqXSXu3l)
As vehicles gain technological capabilities, car manufacturers are using an increasing number of computers and sensors to improve situational awareness and enhance the driving experience.
![Steven Campbell’s technical expertise supports integration of power electronics innovations from ORNL labs to the electrical grid. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/2023-P00223_0.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=59Rnwcd-)
Steven Campbell can often be found deep among tall cases of power electronics, hunkered in his oversized blue lab coat, with 1500 volts of electricity flowing above his head. When interrupted in his laboratory at ORNL, Campbell will usually smile and duck his head.
![ORNL’s David Sholl is director of the new DOE Energy Earthshot Non-Equilibrium Energy Transfer for Efficient Reactions center to help decarbonize the industrial chemical industry. Credit: Genevieve Martin, ORNL/U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-09/2021-P04915.David_.Sholl_.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=qT7ZMJX2)
ORNL has been selected to lead an Energy Earthshot Research Center, or EERC, focused on developing chemical processes that use sustainable methods instead of burning fossil fuels to radically reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions to stem climate change and limit the crisis of a rapidly warming planet.