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Batteries are a central focus in new research projects funded by the Energy Department.

Happening now: the competition finals for Year One of EcoCAR 2 in Los Angeles, California.

Imagine being able to charge an electric vehicle without ever having to plug-in. A new funding opportunity from the Energy Department seeks to accomplish just that.

For most people, the notion that the green gunk coating various pond and river bottoms is a potential fuel source sounds like science fiction. But the fact is, several projects sponsored by the Energy Department are actively developing various ways to turn that “green gunk”, called algae, into a renewable and sustainable transportation fuel that will help reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

Researchers at the Office of Science’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have tapped an unlikely source to help create a renewable alternative to diesel fuel.

Researchers at the Energy Department's Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have engineered the first strains of the bacteria to digest switchgrass biomass and synthesize its sugars into all three types of transportation fuels -- gasoline, diesel and jet fuels.

For many, a barrel of oil is almost synonymous with its most prominent product, gasoline. While almost 40% of a barrel of oil is used to produce gasoline, the rest is used to produce a host of products including jet fuel and plastics and many industrial chemicals. As the United States works to reduce its dependence on foreign oil, we must recognize the complexity of that dependence and work to replace the whole barrel.

Diesel engines can be more than twice as fuel efficient as gasoline engines, but they also produce more pollution like particulate matter and nitrogen oxide. A team of researchers at Argonne are combining the efficiency of diesel with the cleanliness of gasoline.

Teams at two of the Energy Department's laboratories are making headway on two projects that will enable building a new lithium battery that charges faster, lasts longer, runs more safely, and might also arrive on the market in the not-too-distant future. Learn more.

Imagine pulling-up to a fuel station that supplies your car with clean, renewable fuel. Now imagine that, while you’re filling up, this same fuel-station just so happens to be providing power back to an entire industrial facility. Sound a little far-fetched?

Read about the Liquid Metal Battery -- an innovative emerging technology comprised of liquid metal electrodes of differing densities, which allows the liquids to separate and stratify without the need for any solid separator.

To create jobs and lead in the global clean energy economy, the Obama Administration has made a point of supporting game-changing innovations – including the Energy Department’s Advance Research Programs Agency for Energy (ARPA-E).