Business receives grant for natural gas tank development

CALUMET — A research and development company in Calumet has received a grant to develop a unique automotive technology.

REL Incorporated was awarded one hundred seventy five thousand dollars in cost-share and commercialization support through a Michigan Accelerating Technology — or MATch — Energy Grant from NextEnergy. The grant will help support development of a conformable natural gas tank that can be integrated into the body of a vehicle.

The non-profit business accelerator NextEnergy says this development would eliminate the need to utilize cargo space for gas storage and potentially enable widespread adoption of compressed natural gas automobiles. The grant supports an award through the U.S. Department of Energy’s MOVE program.

Two other Michigan businesses, Navitas Advanced Solutions Group, LLC, and Temper, Incorporated, were also awarded MATch Energy Grants.

[Photo courtesy REL, Inc.]