December 5, 2016 (A366). On November 28, 2016, the U.S. Department of Energy announced nearly $25 million for 13 projects aimed at advancing technologies for energy-efficient electric motors through applied research and development. The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Next Generation Electric Machines projects will address the limitations of traditional materials and designs used in electric motor components by cost-effectively enhancing their efficiency, improving their performance, and reducing weight. This effort will support innovative approaches that will significantly improve the technology in industrial electric motors, which use approximately 70 percent of the electricity consumed by U.S. manufacturers and nearly a quarter of all electricity consumed nationally.
Besides developing innovative motor designs as well as reliable and innovative manufacturing of superconductive components, essential enabling technologies will be advanced. The program will support and boost advanced and cost-efficient manufacturing of high-performance superconducting wires to be employed at high enough temperatures where liquid nitrogen can be utilized.
See for more information the website http://energy.gov/eere/amo/next-generation-electric-machines-project-descriptions.