NREL Transportation Researchers Recognized for Teamwork, Leadership, and Expertise at DOE Annual Merit Review

July 15, 2024 | By Julia Thomas | Contact media relations

Transportation researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) received awards at the 2024 Annual Merit Review for the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO). Each year, awards are presented to individuals from DOE national laboratories and other partner organizations for their contributions to overall program efforts and in recognition of their research, development, demonstration, and deployment achievements in specific areas.

VTO Distinguished Achievement Award—Eric Wood

Two men holding awards. — NREL’s Ahmad Pesaran (left) and Eric Wood each received distinguished achievement awards. *Photo from DOE*

Eric Wood, an electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure researcher, was recognized for his outstanding leadership and technical excellence in managing the "Multi-State Transportation Electrification Impact Study: Preparing the Grid for Light-, Medium-, and Heavy-Duty EVs."

This seminal study and resulting report are based on an incremental cost assessment of the charging infrastructure and electric grid upgrades that could be spurred by the strongest tailpipe emissions standards ever proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The analysis, conducted by NREL, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Kevala Inc., found that only modest investments will be needed to support increased EV adoption stemming from the standards.

"The analysis tapped the expertise of researchers from across the lab," Wood said. "NREL's role focused on county-level vehicle modeling, charging infrastructure capital costs, distribution grid analysis, and project management."

VTO Distinguished Achievement Award—Ahmad Pesaran

Two smiling for a picture while one of them holds an award. — Ahmad Pesaran (right) stands with VTO Director Austin Brown after receiving his award plaque. *Photo from DOE*

Ahmad Pesaran, a chief energy storage engineer, was honored for his more than 25 years of cutting-edge research in battery thermal management, battery calorimetry, and battery safety models and tools.

"It was an honor to be recognized by VTO for my contributions to NREL's battery research over the years and to have witnessed the incredible technology advancements made during this time," Pesaran said.

At NREL since 1983, his work has spanned many technical arenas, including advanced air conditioning, buildings, ocean-thermal energy conversion, energy efficiency, EVs, automotive batteries, battery processing and manufacturing, and grid energy storage. Today his research interests center on EV battery recycling and second life, EV battery fire safety prevention, and the lithium-ion battery supply chain. He serves as a subject matter expert for DOE, the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense.

As the first technical director for DOE's Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize, Pesaran played a key role in helping DOE establish the prize, which focuses on identifying innovative solutions for collecting, sorting, storing, and transporting spent and discarded lithium-ion batteries for recycling and materials recovery.

He has won three R&D 100 awards, given by R&D Magazine to honor the year's 100 most innovative technologies. He received these awards in collaboration with NREL colleagues and industry for his instrumental role in developing the following novel technologies:

Battery Internal Short Circuit Device (2016) – An easy-to-implant device to help battery manufacturers evaluate new manufacturing processes, designs, and materials to prevent thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries.
Isothermal Battery Calorimeters (2013) – Calorimeters capable of performing the precise thermal measurements needed to make safer, longer-lasting, and more cost-effective lithium-ion batteries.
Current-Interrupt Charging Algorithm for Lead-Acid Batteries (2001) – A simple approach for recharging lead-acid batteries that extends their cycle life by 300%–400%.

VTO Team Award—Lauren Spath Luhring, Joseph Fish, Andrew Kotz, Phillip Stewart, and Jeffrey Gonder

A group of people smiling while holding awards. — Matthew Macduff of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (left) and NREL’s Lauren Spath Luhring (center), Jeff Gonder (second from right), and Andrew Kotz (right) with VTO Director Austin Brown (second from left) holding awards for outstanding teamwork and technical expertise on the Livewire Data Platform. *Photo from DOE*

A group of NREL researchers—Lauren Spath Luhring, a researcher and software developer; Joseph Fish, a transportation research engineer; Andrew Kotz, Commercial Vehicle Technologies team lead; Phillip Stewart, a software developer; and Jeffrey Gonder, Mobility, Behavior, and Advanced Powertrains group manager—were among a multilaboratory team that received awards recognizing outstanding teamwork and technical expertise for their work on the Livewire Data Platform in support of VTO and its Energy Efficient Mobility Systems Program.

Livewire enables researchers, industry, and academic partners to increase the visibility of their projects, securely share and preserve data, and leverage datasets from other projects. The platform accommodates a wide range of transportation- and mobility-related datasets, including behavioral, experimental, model, analytical, and raw data at the vehicle, traveler, and system levels.

"Livewire's ever-growing portfolio of datasets provides researchers and other users with a unified platform to connect with each other and access datasets to enhance their projects," said Spath Luhring, who has played a leadership role in Livewire's development.

The award also recognizes specific enhancements to the platform—including new dataset permission levels resulting in increases in online engagement and the number of registered users—as well as a quarterly newsletter that shares information about the latest platform enhancements and dataset additions.

VTO Team Award— PACCAR SuperTruck II

The PACCAR SuperTruck II team was recognized for its unique achievements in the field of heavy-duty engine and vehicle efficiency contributing to a more than doubling of freight truck ton-miles per gallon. The SuperTruck II initiative focused on developing and demonstrating advanced engine and vehicle technologies for a hybrid electric Class 8 heavy-duty vehicle.

NREL was among the organizations that contributed to this industry/research initiative, with a focus on the following achievements:

Identifying a representative highway route—accounting for national average road grade, half-hill length, ambient temperatures, and wind speeds—for realistic on-road evaluation of SuperTruck II improvements.
Analyzing energy-saving cabin thermal management designs that maintain or improve thermal comfort. This work is described in an article—"Cabin Thermal Management Analysis for SuperTruck II Next-Generation Hybrid Electric Truck Design"—in the SAE International Journal of Commercial Vehicles.

NREL researchers who contributed to these efforts include Kenneth Kelly, a chief commercial vehicle electrification engineer; Jason Lustbader, Advanced Vehicles and Charging Infrastructure group manager; Andrew Kotz, Commercial Vehicle Technologies team lead; Mike Lammert, a commercial vehicles researcher; Cory Sigler, a mechanical engineer; and a couple former employees.

Learn more about NREL's sustainable transportation and mobility research. And sign up for NREL's quarterly transportation and mobility research newsletter, Sustainable Mobility Matters, to stay current on the latest news.