Douglas DeVoto

DOUGLAS DEVOTO STARTED his career in power electronics and reliability and is now a senior research engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). DeVoto shared that at the start of his decade-long career at NREL, the majority of electric drive systems funding was federal—but a lot of commercial suppliers are now investing in this area.

“We’re seeing traditional companies that have expertise in transmissions or turbomachinery pivoting their engineering groups to electric vehicles,” he said. “The involvement of Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis helps guide the precompetitive research, both for us and their suppliers.”

DeVoto is currently collaborating with a company called Synteris on a project funded by ARPA-E to 3D print a ceramic cold plate. The patent-pending features inside the cold plate could replace several components, making it one heterogenous part. DeVoto is excited to see what the next decade has in store. “When you go back 10 years ago, we were just getting EVs that had 100 miles of range, and there were about two of them on the market,” he said. “If we can make that continual improvement, the next decade looks promising.”

Alongside his work at NREL, DeVoto uses his engineering expertise to help global communities. Through Engineers Without Borders (EWB), he has volunteered on projects providing clean drinking water solutions to rural communities in Cameroon, Peru, and Nepal. Rather than just building something and calling it finished, the projects emphasize involving local committees and reinforcing the sustainability side, DeVoto said. “That’s the best thing at the end of a project—when a community can completely handle the operation and maintenance of a system.”

Although DeVoto is currently taking a break from EWB trips, he recommends the experience. Even though you might not be traveling around the country much, you gain a level of trust and openness with local communities that is hard to find on typical vacations, according to DeVoto. “You will appreciate it more than a standard tourist trip,” he said.