The House yesterday voted 312 to 114 to pass the Advanced Vehicle Technology Act (H.R. 3246), legislation that would authorize a total of $2.85 billion over the fiscal year (FY) 2010-2014 period for the Department of Energy to support research activities to reduce the use of vehicle fuels that generate high emissions, including $1.75 billion to support the development of technologies that would improve fuel efficiency, promote the use of alternative fuels, and optimize traffic flow for passenger and commercial vehicles.

Prior to the final vote, the House approved the following amendments:

• Massa - Authorizes support for public-private partnerships and industry programs that seek to overcome barriers to commercial production.

• Donnelly (IN) - Requires the inclusion of recreational vehicles as eligible under the Medium and Heavy Duty Commercial and Transit Vehicles research and development program (sec. 201).

• Altmire - Requires the Secretary of Energy to research and develop methods of reducing waste and emissions from advanced battery technology and to increase advanced battery calendar and cycle life.

• Cohen - Adds hydraulics, flywheels, and compressed air storage as technologies eligible for the proposed program.

• Marshall - Requires that research into refueling and recharging infrastructure for alternative and hybrid fuel vehicles include the unique challenges facing rural areas.

• Gordon (TN) - To explicitly include agricultural and construction equipment in the nonroad systems pilot program (sec. 204).

• Gordon (TN) - Amends industry participation in the vehicle research and development program (sec. 101) to include manufacturers of all qualified plug-in electric vehicles.

• Posey - Directs the Secretary of Energy to establish within the existing Vehicle Technologies Program an Innovative Automotive Demonstration Program to make competitively awarded grants for the purpose of demonstrating and bringing to market very high energy efficiency vehicles achieving at least 70 miles per gallon.

• Peters - Includes retrofitting advanced vehicle technologies to existing vehicles as an area of research under the bill.

• Broun (GA) - Adds a requirement to title I that the Secretary of Energy submit to Congress an annual report describing activities undertaken in the previous year, active industry participants, efforts to recruit new participants, progress of the program in meeting goals and timelines, and a strategic plan for funding of activities across agencies.

• Gordon (TN) - The Gordon amendment would: (1) amend title I to require the Secretary of Energy to report to Congress after 18 months, and annually thereafter through 2015, after enactment on the technologies developed, the success of the adopted technologies for commercial applications, and whether those technologies are manufactured in the United States; (2) amend the reporting requirement in title II to clarify that the Secretary of Energy must submit the report to Congress annually; and (3) expand the nonroad systems program from heavy duty nonroad equipment to mobile nonroad equipment.

The House today turns to the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (H.R. 3221).