The launch of the all-electric LEAF at Nissan’s Sunderland plant in north east England adds weight to the region’s claim to be a leading European centre of low carbon vehicle (LCV) development. Output from the Nissan plant in 2012 exceeded Italy’s entire national car production, at 510,572 units. In this interview, Matthew Beecham talked with Dr Colin Herron, managing director of Zero Carbon Futures, who described the wide range of LCV activities being undertaken across the region.
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We are a small consultancy specialising in developing projects around the emergence of new technologies that have developed because of the introduction of low carbon vehicles into society.
How important to your strategy is the presence of Nissan in the north east of England?
Obviously Nissan helped to give critical mass to the region’s technology base and helps attract complementary businesses into the area. Such has been the level of investment locally that Nissan has also chosen to locate its high tech Lithium-Ion battery manufacturing plant here.
Surely it takes more than just an electric vehicle (EV) plant to create a centre of LCV expertise?
That’s right. The combination of an emerging specialist supply chain, cutting-edge infrastructure and advanced technology developments, both academic and commercial, goes far beyond just supporting the Nissan operation. A network of advanced low carbon technology companies exists within the region, complemented by research at the Universities of, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, Durham and Teesside. The total value of the automotive sector in the region is approximately £1 billion per annum.
Is central government helping in any way to attract further business to the area?
The low carbon sector in north east England recently received £6.3 million from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund to support the development of the industry. One of the major results of this is development of the SMART (Sustainable Manufacturing And Renewable Technology) Park in the heart of Sunderland’s automotive zone. Overseen by a partnership between ourselves and Gateshead College, the park will become a recognised demonstration centre for low carbon vehicles and associated technologies and an ideal R&D environment for businesses, researchers and industry to work together. The aim is to develop technologies such as induction charging, hydrogen refuelling and we are also working on vehicle to home technologies. The technology park incorporates a test track dedicated to ULCV development, located adjacent to our facilities so developers can utilise the track to evaluate new developments in a physical environment.
With such a dependency on LCV technology, does it concern you that EV sales are sluggish in some markets?
The issues faced in many areas relate primarily to a lack of accurate information, infrastructure, and to some extent cost. While research elsewhere has concentrated primarily on vehicle engineering, we have looked further ahead, to the implications for society and all those who will be affected by the change-over to EVs. The North East’s Plugged in Places project, Charge Your Car, has established over 750 charging points for EVs in the region, including 50kW DC and 22kW AC quick chargers that can charge an EV in 25 minutes. Extensive EV user trials throughout the north east of England, such as the Switch EV programme, have generated invaluable “real world” data on driver habits. The Switch project placed 40 production cars for six-monthly periods with 200 individuals and businesses, driving some 600,000 km, to allow a detailed study of driver habits and dispelled many myths about the use of EVs. This information will soon be published and presented at international conferences.
Apart from the needs for a charging infrastructure, are there unforeseen aspects to the adoption of EV technology?
High voltage systems in vehicles require expert handling in a number of situations, such as the safe repair of crash damage and the correct procedures for emergency services to follow. Gateshead College has become one of Europe’s leading centres for this type of training and has also established the UK’s first EV apprenticeships, in partnership with Smith Electric Vehicles. Even the insurance industry is taking advantage of the expertise available to assess risks more accurately.
With your region’s emphasis on integrating the EV within society, what future developments can we expect in this direction?
The remainder of this interview is available on just-auto’s QUBE research service
