Daniel Sperling, director of the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, will testify on Thursday before the U.S. House Science Committee regarding the U.S. Department of Energy's Partnership for a Next Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) program.

The Bush administration has proposed replacing the PNGV program with a new FreedomCAR (Cooperative Automotive Research) initiative. FreedomCAR would be a partnership with the three major automakers to develop, "affordable, full-function cars and trucks that are free from foreign oil and harmful emissions without sacrificing mobility and vehicle choice." The PNGV focused on developing high-fuel-efficiency, pre-production mid-sized cars by 2004.

Sperling, an authority on emerging automotive technologies, in the past has supported a change in priorities for the PNGV program. In his testimony Thursday, he will recommend that PNGV or its successor focus on long-term research, not short-term projects. He also will recommend that it support universities in training the engineers and scientists who will be the industrial work force designing and building the vehicles of tomorrow.

ITS-Davis is home to two of the U.S. Department of Energy's 10 Graduate Automotive Technology Education (GATE) Centers, for fuel cell vehicles and hybrid vehicles, and the National Science Foundation's only IGERT Center for graduate education in the field of transportation.

ITS-Davis also leads a current research project examining the use of hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered buses in a local transit program.

The House hearing, "The Future of DOE's Automotive Research Programs," begins at 10 a.m. in Room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Other scheduled witnesses include David Garman, assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, U.S. Department of Energy; Vernon Roan, vice chair, National Research Council Panel on the PNGV; and Ross Witschonke, vice president of electrics and power electronics, Ballard Power Systems.