RMI, formerly known as the Rocky Mountain Institute, is a think tank in the United States co-founded by Amory Lovins[3] dedicated to research, publication, consulting, and lecturing in the field of sustainability, with a focus on profitable innovations for energy and resource efficiency.

By 1978, experimental physicist Amory Lovins had published many books, consulted widely, and was active in energy affairs in some fifteen countries as a synthesist and lobbyist.

Together with a group of colleagues, the Lovinses fostered efficient resource use and policy development that they believed would promote global security.

The Lovins described the "hard energy path" as involving inefficient liquid-fuel automotive transport, as well as giant centralized electricity-generating facilities, often burning fossil fuels such as coal or petroleum, or harnessing a fission reaction, greatly complicated by electricity wastage and loss.

In recent years, RMI has convened a team of designers and engineers to develop a super-efficient prototype automobile, which they have dubbed the Hypercar.

Bright Automotive secured a conversion contract with the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) to convert military non-combat vehicles into a parallel PHEV for evaluation, including V2G testing.