Electric Vehicles Set To Have Improved Performance and Battery Life Thanks to Oak Ridge Research

Electric vehicle technology is accelerating at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Researchers at the lab's Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center have developed an innovative cooling concept that could improve vehicle performance, life expectancy and overall efficiency without increasing costs.

The "floating loop" two-phase cooling concept enables significant reductions in the inverter weight and size while increasing the power it can handle. PEEMRC is the Department of Energy's broad-based research center helping lead the nation's advancing shift from petroleum-powered to hybrid-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The center's efforts directly support DOE's Vehicle Technologies Program and its goal to provide Americans with greater freedom of mobility and energy security while lowering costs and reducing impacts on the environment.