FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership

Coordinating the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Development Efforts of the Federal Government, Automakers and Energy Providers

The FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership is a partnership between the Federal government, automakers, and energy providers to develop the technologies and the infrastructure for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to emerge in the transportation sector. The partnership is focused on collaborative, pre-competitive, high-risk research to develop the component and infrastructure technologies necessary to provide a full range of affordable cars and light trucks that will free the nation's personal transportation system from petroleum dependence and from harmful emissions, without sacrificing freedom of mobility and freedom of vehicle choice.

The original FreedomCAR Partnership was established in 2002 as a research and development (R&D) partnership between the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), a partnership between Ford Motor Company, DaimlerChrysler, and General Motors. A major thrust of FreedomCAR is to develop and validate the technologies necessary to enable mass production of affordable hydrogen-fueled fuel cell vehicles. After President Bush announced the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative in 2003, the partnership was expanded to the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership by bringing the major energy companies to the table—BP, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell—to focus on reducing the cost and improving systems for hydrogen production, storage and delivery. The combined partnership addresses the vehicle and infrastructure development technologies needed to make it practical and cost-effective for large numbers of Americans to choose to use fuel cell vehicles by 2020.

Partnership Organization

The FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership consists of two main organizational units—FreedomCAR Operations Group and Fuel Operations Group—overseen by an Executive Steering Group (ESG). The Joint Operations Group (JOG) facilitates coordination between the operations groups. Work is carried out in 11 technical teams. These teams consist of scientists and engineers with technology-specific expertise from the automotive and energy partner companies, DOE, the national laboratories, and other sources on an as-needed basis such as the supplier community and other government agencies. The primary focus of the technical teams is to identify and recommend comprehensive technical goals and evaluate progress and the achievement of technical milestones.

The FreedomCAR Technical Teams include:

Fuel Cell Systems
Advanced Combustion and Emissions Control
Electrochemical Energy Storage
Vehicle Systems Analysis
Materials
Electrical and Electronics

The Fuel Technical Teams include:

Hydrogen Production
Hydrogen Delivery
Fuel Pathway Integration

There are also two cross-cutting Joint Technical Teams:

On-Board Hydrogen Storage
Codes and Standards

FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership Steering Group

Executive Steering Group includes the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), Energy R&D Vice Presidents,and the DOE EERE Assistant Secretary. The Fuel Operations Group includes Energy Directors and DOE Program Managers. FreedomCAR includes the Operations Group, OEM Directors and DOE Program Managers. The Fuel Operations Group and FreedomCAR work together as the Joint Operations Group. Fuel Tech Teams, which include Hydrogen Production, Hydrogen Delivery, and Fuel Pathway Integration, report to the Fuel Operations Group and work together with the Joint Tech Teams and Fuel Cell and Vehicle Tech Teams. The Joint Tech Teams, which consists of the On-Board Hydrogen Storage and Codes and Standards report to the Fuel Operations Group and FreedomCAR. The Fuel Cell and Vehicle Tech Teams consists of Fuel Cell Systems, Advanced Combustion Emission Control, Electrochemical Energy Storage, Vehicle Systems Analysis, Materials, and Electrical and Electronics.

Learn more about the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership