“What’s exciting is we’re taking what we’ve always done very well, which is make things, and combining that with the research and development of new technologies,” Stabenow said.

The Battery Innovation Act would work to spur the nation’s research and development and increase the production of advanced batteries.

Stabenow said the U.S. has the capacity to produce 40 percent of the world’s advanced batteries and their components by 2015. Prior to 2009, when a $2 billion investment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was made in this field, the U.S. only was producing 2 percent.

The Battery Innovation Act, which will be introduced in Congress this week, would invest about $2 billion more into the research and development of advanced batteries. With this funding, Stabenow said researchers must consider not only how advanced batteries can be utilized in small automobiles but also in large vehicles as well as for stationary storage.

The bill would authorize competition among states and among researchers to continue their efforts to create the most advanced battery technologies. The Department of Energy would create a major national center, which Stabenow hopes would be located in Michigan, that would be a hub for battery advancement, similar to centers already in existence that focus research on solar energy, energy efficiency and nuclear power.

It also would sponsor a competition that would award the researcher who is first to develop a cost-efficient, 500-mile advanced vehicle battery for automobiles.

To ensure the U.S. simply does not shift its reliance on foreign oil to reliance on the foreign raw materials used to develop advanced batteries, Stabenow’s bill also would provide incentives to businesses and universities to work together to enhance the domestic development of lithium and other essential materials.

This is legislation that Stabenow said will not add to the national deficit. She intends to offset its $2 billion cost by making cuts in other areas. Although these specific cuts have yet to be determined, Stabenow said other research dollars would not be reduced to fund this initiative.

Stabenow made her announcement alongside College of Engineering Dean Satish Udpa, mechanical engineering professor Harold Schock and doctoral student Apoorv Shaligram at MSU’s Energy and Automotive Research Laboratories.

Schock said currently there are more than 20 externally funded research projects underway in this facility, where faculty from the College of Engineering, about half a dozen staff and about 40 graduate students work.

It’s researchers like this who will benefit from this legislation, Schock said.

“(The Act will) create new jobs in the design of new batteries (as well as) managing the life cycle of the battery and recycling batteries at the end of their normal life,” he said.

Shaligram said he is glad to be working in a field that not only is interesting but also is of practical importance. At the unveiling, he discussed the advanced battery research he is conducting.

“Only about 50 percent of the battery mass is used to store energy, so we wanted to optimize that and improve that further so batteries can actually work longer and charge faster,” Shaligram said.

Stabenow said her legislation would fund similar projects to work to make the U.S. a leader in the production of advanced batteries.

“We’ve got the know-how; we’ve got the best scientists; we’ve got the best engineers; we’ve got the folks that know how to make quality products,” she said.

“All we need is a focused comprehensive approach, and that’s what we’re doing (with this act).”