Public and private sector investment totalling GBP56m will lead to the development and demonstration of technologies to cut carbon emissions from road transport and accelerate the commercialisation of low carbon vehicles, the UK government said.
Over GBP27m of public funding, from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and the Technology Strategy Board (the UK’s innovation agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), together with GBP29m of private sector funding, will be invested in 17 major research, development and validation projects. While many of the projects will be led by major vehicle manufacturers such as Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover and Nissan. a large number of small and medium-sized companies, including suppliers, will be closely involved in the development work.
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The aim of the projects is to strengthen UK capability by encouraging a reduction of costs in the supply base and a faster adoption of new technologies on UK roads, with a focus on pulling technology through the various stages of the innovation chain.
The projects include:
- The development of a complete EV drive system that incorporates motor, controller and gearbox, cooling and connectors within a single cast plug and play package. The outputs will be low cost, with a range of power outputs, and suitable for integration across multiple OEM vehicle platforms (led by Ashwoods Automotive).
- ‘Car for Young Drivers’ will deliver novel, low carbon transport solutions to alleviate the issues associated with getting young drivers safely integrated into the vehicle owning and driving population. The project will produce a quadricycle vehicle for 2 people that features novel hybrid driveline technology, lightweight impact-resistant body and features designed specifically to appeal to young drivers (led by mi Technology Group).
- The development of a production-ready flywheel hybrid midibus by 2014, targeting a 15% reduction in fuel consumption. The product could lead to a step change in fuel consumption and emissions of the Wrightbus midibus fleet and, through future retro-fit projects, for existing vehicles (led by Wrightbus).
- The development of ground-breaking woven 3D reinforcement systems for automotive components. CO2 emissions can be directly addressed by using lightweight, low inertia materials, such as aluminium matrix composites (AMCs), which can combine the strength and stiffness of steels with the weight of aluminium. This work builds on a previous Technology Strategy Board-funded project, which proved the feasibility of using AMC inserts (led by Jaguar Cars).
The companies leading the projects are: Artemis Intelligent Power, Ashwoods Automotive, Delta Motorsport, Ford Motor Company, GKN Structures, Jaguar Cars (four projects), Land Rover, mi Technology Group, Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK, Nissan Technical Centre Europe, Prodrive Automotive Technology (Europe), Ricardo UK, Turbo Power Systems and Wrightbus.
The competition and funding is managed by the Technology Strategy Board through the Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform (LCVIP), which promotes low carbon vehicle research, design, development and demonstration in the UK. The platform has leveraged GBP300m of innovation investment for low carbon vehicle research and development since it was established in 2007.
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