Overview
Personal Profile
Ahmad Pesaran is the chief energy storage engineer. At NLR since 1983, his work has spanned various technical arenas, including automotive batteries, buildings, ocean-thermal energy conversion, and advanced air conditioning. He has co-authored more than 150 journal articles and technical papers on energy storage and electric-drive vehicles.
Currently he supports the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) with battery recycling, battery processing and manufacturing, and low-cobalt cathode development projects. He also serves on the electrochemical energy storage technical team and workgroups of the U.S. DRIVE (Driving Research and Innovation for Vehicle efficiency and Energy sustainability) program.
He started working on batteries, ultracapacitors, hybrid electric, battery electric, and fuel cell vehicles in 1995, collaborating with car and battery manufacturers on battery thermal analysis and battery thermal management issues.
Until 2017, he was the manager of NLR’s energy storage research team working on high energy anodes, electrode coatings, battery thermal analysis and evaluation, lithium-ion battery safety modeling and evaluation, three-dimensional electrochemical-thermal modeling, techno-economic analysis of batteries for electric vehicles, and post-vehicle battery second use. From 2010 to 2016, he was the technical lead for DOE’s Computer-Aided Engineering for Electric Drive Vehicle Batteries (CAEBAT) program.
From 2016 to 2018, he was on detail in Washington, D.C. as a technical advisor to the VTO Battery R&D Program, supporting extreme fast charging of electric vehicle batteries, battery processing and manufacturing projects, and battery recycling.
Research Interests
Battery recycling
Lithium-ion battery safety
Automotive batteries, hybrid electric vehicles, and all-electric vehicles
Advanced air conditioning
Professional Experience
Energy Storage Group Manager, NLR (1991–2016)
U.S. Department of Energy, Technical Advisor (2016–2018)
Solar Energy Research Institute, Senior Engineer (1983–1991)
Education/Academic Qualification
Bachelor, Chemical Engineering, Shiraz University
PhD, Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles
Master, Thermal Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles
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Collaborations and Top Research Areas From the Past 5 Years
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Defining the State of Safety (SOS) for Lithium-Ion Batteries in EVs: A Discussion
Pesaran, A., 2025, 20 p.Research output: NLR › Presentation
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High-Heat Transfer Lithium-Ion Batteries: A New Era in Battery Thermal Management: Article No. 126347
Piggott, A., Allen, J. & Pesaran, A., 2025, In: Applied Thermal Engineering. 272, 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
10 Scopus Citations -
Trends and 2025 Insights on the Rise of Electric Vehicles in the USA
Muratori, M., Arent, D., Bazilian, M., Bistline, J., Borlaug, B., Brown, A., Cazzola, P., Dede, E., Gearhart, C., Greene, D., Jenn, A., Kendall, A., Ledna, C., Liu, Y., Lipman, T., Narumanchi, S., Pesaran, A., Sioshansi, R., Timbario, T. & Walkowicz, K. & 1 others, , 2025, In: Nature Reviews Clean Technology. 1, p. 827-845 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Electric Vehicle Lithium-Ion Battery Life Cycle Management
Pesaran, A., Roman, L. & Kincaide, J., 2023, 54 p.Research output: NLR › Technical Report
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Lithium-Ion Battery Technologies for Electric Vehicles: Progress and Challenges
Pesaran, A., 2023, In: IEEE Electrification Magazine. 11, 2, p. 35-43 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
55 Scopus Citations
Activities
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American Society of Mechanical Engineers (External organization)
Ginley, D. (Member), Pesaran, A. (Member), Bay, C. (Member), Veers, P. (Fellow), Walker, A. (Fellow), DeVoto, D. (Member), Moreno, G. (Member), Zhu, G. (Member), Hamilton, N. (Member), Martin, M. (Member), Paret, P. (Member), Kekelia, B. (Member), Chaudhary, R. (Member), Biglu, M. (Member), Hirschey, J. (Member), Moreno Resendiz, E. (Member), Gamil, A. (Member) & Kocher, J. (Member)
0001Activity: Membership › Membership of network
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SAE International (External organization)
Pesaran, A. (Fellow), Markel, A. (Member), Green, J. (Fellow), Kekelia, B. (Member) & Lammert, M. (Member)
0001Activity: Membership › Membership of network
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U.S. Advanced Battery Consortium (External organization)
Pesaran, A. (Member)
0001Activity: Membership › Membership of network
Awards and Honors
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EERE Assistant Secretary’s Outstanding Impact Award
Pesaran, A. (Recipient), 2017
Prize: Honorary award
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NREL Distinguished Member of Research Staff Recipients
Alberi, K. (Recipient), Baring-Gould, E. (Recipient), Barnes, T. (Recipient), Bernstein, A. (Recipient), Dinh, H. (Recipient), Harrison, K. (Recipient), King, P. (Recipient), Macknick, J. (Recipient), Muratori, M. (Recipient), Neale, N. (Recipient), Pesaran, A. (Recipient), Salvachua Rodriguez, D. (Recipient), Smith, K. (Recipient) & Stout, S. (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Honorary award
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NREL Hubbard Award for Sustained Research Achievements
Pesaran, A. (Recipient), 2012
Prize: Honorary award
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R&D 100 Award: Battery Internal Short Circuit Device
Pesaran, A. (Recipient) & Keyser, M. (Recipient), 2016
Prize: Honorary award