of a resource for innovation in the energy industries,” Knotek said.
One manifestation of that is the $275 million Advanced Research Projects-Energy, or ARPA-E, program. Led by former energy industry entrepreneurs, the program is the “skunkworks” of the DOE, according to program director Ilan Gur, because of its small budget (in government terms), mission to scout out and support breakthrough technology, and ability to take risks.
ARPA-E support comes in the form of grants that typically run from $500,000 to a few million. The agency also typically provides research and operational support. The grants and research agreements typically are for proof of concept projects or for creating a prototype.
So how’s ARPA-E’s track record? Former Energy Secretary Steven Chu noted the program has yet to hit home runs, but is piling up singles and doubles.
Gur said his measure of success is taking “crackpot” ideas that might be promising and testing them to see if there is merit. “We don’t stay up at night worried about funding the wrong things,” Gur said. “What keeps us up at night is that for some reason we missed funding a great idea. So we’re trying as an agency to be as open to as many ideas as we can.”
The Pentagon also has a lot of money available for cleantech startups, according to Tom Morehouse, the principal deputy secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs.
Its focus is on “operational energy,” Morehouse said. That means making the military more energy efficient to reduce the logistical burden of getting fuel to forces deployed in the field.
For the Defense Department, that can mean investing in advanced generators for forward deployed bases in Afghanistan or in recreational vehicle-like homes that keep troops cooler in the desert. It also installs renewable energy systems at some bases to cut energy consumption.
“We can afford to adopt technologies the commercial market could not afford to adopt,” Morehouse said.
Cool Britannia’s Clean Superbike With Sex Appeal
The forum had a strong international flavor this year, with people from Asia and Europe attending. The largest foreign delegation was from the United Kingdom, which sent government officials who specialize in cleantech and trade, 16 cleantech companies, and one breathtaking electric “Superbike” that could do for motorcycles what the electric Tesla Roadster has done for automobiles.
The bike is named the Saietta, and it’s from a company named Agility Motors. The startup blends the know-how of experts in Formula 1 racing—one look at the bike makes that clear—with aerospace and advanced materials.
Agility Motors CEO Lawrence Marazzi showed me the bike and gave me a rundown of its specs. Officially, the Saietta can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 3.9 seconds, and its top speed is 80 mph. But that’s with the bike’s software limiting it. A truer top speed is closer to 150 miles per hour, and it can go from 0 to 60 in 2.9, Marazzi said. Its lithium-ion battery has a range of 74 miles according to the website, but it’s closer to 130 to 250 miles, depending on conditions, Marazzi said. The projected retail prices is £14,000, or about $22,900 with today’s exchange rate.
Agility Motors plans to make several models of bikes, but its long-term goal is to make advances in materials and power system design in order to disrupt the auto industry and make it cleaner.
“We’re a tech company that also has a motorcycle brand,” Marazzi said, and Agility Motors picked motorcycles because it looked like an under-innovated market segment. The Saietta is akin to a demo project, and it taught Agility Motors a great deal about motor design, precision manufacturing, battery making, and composite materials design.
In my eyes, it’s also a much-needed way of making cleantech cool for skeptical consumers and gear heads. Cleantech supporters will notice the specs and engineering behind it, but everyone should be able to appreciate its raw power, cutting-edge style, and ability to take on challengers on the highway.
If Agility Motors raises the seed funding it is looking for, and if it can sell enough bikes to show it’s a viable motorcycle company, the Saietta will turn heads and possibly change minds.
