New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Alternative Fuel Vehicle Research Laboratory

The New York State Alternative Fuel Vehicle Research Laboratory (AFVRL) is a state-of-the-art motor vehicle emission research and program implementation facility intended for the support of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) mission to implement data driven policies and regulations resulting in the best technical and cost effective reductions of motor vehicle source emissions. AFVRL will alter the scope of research and expand existing laboratory capabilities available in New York State to evaluate motor vehicle technology, fuel, and policy issues for both energy and environmental needs. The facility is to serve the long-range research and data acquisition needs of the Bureau of Mobile Sources and Technology Development (BMS&TD) operating under the DEC’s Division of Air Resources.

In support of this core mission, the facility will be accessible to other government agencies, authorities, and industry groups for collaborative projects with shared objectives. AFVRL will have the capacity to provide research testing documentation on both environmental impacts and energy efficiency benefits for projects evaluating the potential of advanced technology vehicles, plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles, associated bio-fuels, and on a broad range of distributed generation (DG) candidate technologies and fuels.

The unique technological capabilities of the facility will additionally be exploited to accommodate links with educational institutions in support of engineering science in graduate and undergraduate programs. An important element of AFVRL is to assist in the education of the technicians to maintain advanced emission controls emerging for gasoline, diesel, alternative fuel, plug-in hybrids, and similar technologies.