&gt; The research is being conducted under a three-year project funded by a $9 million award from DOE&#x27;s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and an additional $4 million of cost share from the team members.<p>So, the total cost of designing this prototype was $13 million?  What&#x27;s the size of the R&amp;D budget for a typical automaker?<p>To me this just shows that typically businesses are in the mindset of &quot;business as usual&quot; because it&#x27;s what they are comfortable with rather than looking into radical, new, innovation.