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For Immediate Release

October 27, 2009

Shape Memory Alloy Could Turn Exhaust Heat to Energy

Captured Heat Could Power Hybrid Battery or Replace Cars Alternator

Department of Energy Awards GM $2.7 Million Create Prototype with Partners

Latest Example of Collaborative R&D Model to Speed Commercialization

WARREN, Mich. -- The day is coming when the heat from your cars engine exhaust is captured
and converted to mechanical energy capable of powering your vehicles stereo, power seats and
air conditioning.
General Motors R&D received a $2.7 million federal award Monday that will help build a prototype
using Shape Memory Alloy, or SMA, that would generate electricity from the heat in automotive
exhaust.
When you heat up a stretched SMA wire, it shrinks back to its pre-stretched length, and when it
cools back down it becomes less stiff and can revert to the original shape said Jan Aase, director
of GMs Vehicle Development Research Laboratory. A loop of this wire could be used to drive an
electric generator to charge a battery.
It is too soon to identify a vehicle where this technology could work, but hybrid or conventionally
powered vehicles are possible applications.
No one else anywhere in the world is doing this work as far as we know, Aase said. In a hybrid
system, the electrical energy could be used to charge the battery. In a conventional engine, this
could perhaps even replace the alternator without any load on the engine.
The award from the Department of Energys Advanced Research Program Agency Energy, or
ARPA-E, was the only grant to an automaker among $151 million in distributed by the DOE. GM
will work with HRL Laboratories; Dynalloy, Inc., a Tustin, CA manufacturer of shape memory
alloys specially made to be used as actuators, and the Smart Materials Collaborative Research
Lab at the University of Michigan.
"This award is significant for the gains in energy efficiency it could bring, and because it signifies
how GM is doing business though collaboration and partnership, said Alan Taub, GM vice
president of global R&D.
The days are gone when we would do this kind of groundbreaking work on our own. We need to
continue to find ways to combine our deep technical knowledge with others who can help take our
ideas from concept to commercialization, he said.
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The idea of an SMA heat engine has been around for 30 years, Aase said, but the few devices
that have been built were too large and too inefficient to make it worthwhile.
Even now, the technology is in the very early stages. Over the next two years, GM and its
partners will work to create a working prototype.
Were taking advantage of a network of people that weve been working with for a number of
years on shape memory alloys, Aase said. And we have some novel approaches to make this
high-risk, high return project successful.

About General Motors: General Motors, one of the worlds largest automakers, traces
its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 219,000
people in every major region of the world and does business in some 140 countries. GM
and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 34 countries, and sell and service
these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM
Daewoo, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GMs largest national market is the United
States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany.
GMs OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information
services. General Motors acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July
10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to
operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General
Motors can be found at www.gm.com.
CONTACT:
Alan Adler
313-319-8486 (Mobile)
alan.adler@gm.com