Udall Congratulates Louisville Business, NREL on Receiving $4.4 Million to Develop Battery Tech for Electric Vehicles

Press Release

Mark Udall, who serves on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, congratulated Solid Power of Louisville and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden on receiving more than $4.4 million in Department of Energy competitive grant funds to develop advanced battery technology for electric cars. The competitive grants, issued under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program, will help improve electric vehicles' driving range and reliability.

"Electric vehicles have a growing role in our efforts to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality throughout Colorado and the United States," Udall said. "These exciting projects, which will create jobs and drive innovation, show how Colorado is in the driver's seat on innovation."

"The breadth and volume of technology approaches embodied in the RANGE projects demonstrate ARPA-E's commitment to transformational innovation," said Cheryl Martin, deputy director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program. "The success of RANGE battery technologies will reshape our thinking on EV storage and help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign energy sources, decrease emissions and help maintain our technological lead in R&D."

The competitive grants, two of the 22 awards announced today, are:

- $3.5 million to Solid Power of Louisville to develop a safer low-cost, lithium-ion battery for electric vehicles that is less prone to fire under elevated temperatures or during traffic accidents and collisions; and,

- $999,088 to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden to develop a new low-cost battery using organic energy storage materials.

Udall has been a strong supporter of projects funded through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program. He recently congratulated a Littleton company on receiving funding for a battery-development program and Colorado State University on receiving funding to develop a system that will allow consumers' cars to run on clean-burning compressed natural gas.

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