Vehicle Innovation Act of 2015

Short title— This Act may be cited as the “Vehicle Innovation Act of 2015”.

Table of contents— The table of contents of this Act is as follows:

According to the Energy Information Administration, the transportation sector accounts for approximately 28 percent of the United States primary energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions, and 21 percent of global oil demand.

The United States transportation sector is over 90-percent dependent on petroleum.

United States heavy truck fuel consumption will increase 27 percent by 2030.

The domestic automotive and commercial vehicle manufacturing sectors have increasingly limited resources for research, development, and engineering of advanced technologies.

Vehicle, engine, and component manufacturers are playing a more important role in vehicle technology development, and should be better integrated into Federal research efforts.

Priorities for the vehicle technologies research of the Department of Energy have shifted drastically in recent years among diesel hybrids, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and plug-in electric hybrids, with little continuity among them.

The integration of vehicle, communication, and infrastructure technologies has great potential for efficiency gains through better management of the total transportation system.

The Federal Government should balance its role in researching longer-term exploratory concepts and developing nearer-term transformational technologies for vehicles.

to develop United States technologies and practices that—

to support domestic research, development, engineering, demonstration, and commercial application and manufacturing of advanced vehicles, engines, and components;

to enable vehicles to move larger volumes of goods and more passengers with less energy and emissions;

to develop cost-effective advanced technologies for wide-scale utilization throughout the passenger, commercial, government, and transit vehicle sectors;

to allow for greater consumer choice of vehicle technologies and fuels;

shorten technology development and integration cycles in the vehicle industry;

to ensure a proper balance and diversity of Federal investment in vehicle technologies; and

to strengthen partnerships between Federal and State governmental agencies and the private and academic sectors.

Department— The term “Department” means the Department of Energy.

Secretary— The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Energy.

for fiscal year 2015, $301,506,000;

for fiscal year 2016, $313,567,000;

for fiscal year 2017, $326,109,000;

for fiscal year 2018, $339,154,000;

for fiscal year 2019, $352,720,000; and

for fiscal year 2020, $366,829,000.