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
Learn more about the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership
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