The Northeast Advanced Vehicle Consortium (NAVC) is a public-private partnership of companies, public agencies, and university and federal laboratories working together to promote advanced vehicle technologies in the Northeast United States. The NAVC serves as a hub of advanced transportation activity in the Northeast: through the NAVC, manufacturers, researchers, utilities, universities, government agencies and environmental advocates are linked, sharing information and collaborating on projects. The NAVC also conducts technology analysis, publishing educational reports on clean vehicle technologies for the transportation community, technology developers, policymakers, and environmental advocates.  The NAVC is not only an invaluable resource for funding and information, but also a much-needed advocate for clean-fuel technologies.

NAVC's mission is to:

• strengthen the Northeast economy through the creation of highly skilled technology jobs
• reduce the region's air quality problems by promoting the use of clean-fuel vehicles
• foster transportation technologies that are sustainable and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil
  

Originally formed by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management (NESCAUM) and the New England Governors' Conference (NEGC), the NAVC was incorporated as a non-profit in Massachusetts in 1993.  Since 1993, the NAVC's participants have initiated over 70 projects, spanning a wide range of technology areas...

• electric, hybrid electric and fuel cell propulsion systems
• buses, utility vans, light-duty vehicles, bicycles
• electric, natural gas and hydrogen refueling
• lightweight structural composites
• energy storage and management

...and vehicle platforms

• cars and pickups
• transit and school buses
• utility vans
• bicycles

In all, the NAVC has successfully managed over $60 million of advanced vehicle R & D projects over the past ten years.

Since 2002, the NAVC has played a leading role in development of zero-emission transportation solutions by managing the U.S. Fuel Cell Bus Working Group on behalf of the US Department of Transportation.  The Working Group includes transit operators with a general interest in implementing clean fuel bus technologies, electric drive integrators, bus manufacturers, and others.  In addition, the NAVC is a partner in UTC Fuel Cells' program to develop a new, ruggedized fuel cell power plant for transit buses.

Future Wheels II, published by the NAVC in September 2003, reports on the results of extensive interviews with fuel cell experts on the future of the transportation fuel cell industry.  The NAVC interviewed 34 global experts representing fuel cell manufacturers, automakers, fuel providers, hydrogen suppliers, state and federal government agencies, non-profit associations, and independent consultancies.  These experts were asked their views on a wide range of issues surrounding development of a hydrogen and fuel cell industry.  To date, Future Wheels II has been downloaded from the NAVC website over 20,000 times.

» For more information about NVAC please visit:

www.navc.org