- The Niche Vehicle Network announced the fully-electric, British-designed and built CALLUM SKYE ATV as the winner of the year’s Nick Carpenter Innovation Award, on the UK Government Pavilion stand at this year’s Cenex Expo.
- The annual award is given to niche vehicles which help accelerate the transition to zero emission travel. This year, the award was presented to both CALLUM and its partners, Codem Composites and Nyobolt.
- The SKYE was picked for several reasons, including its use of sustainable materials in bodywork construction, and the ultra-fast charging battery – capable of being fully charged in under ten minutes.
A win for the Callum Skye at Cenex
The CALLUM SKYE was only revealed several months ago, partly helped by funding from the Niche Vehicle Network itself, with its high levels of innovation helping it take home this prestigious award, one of which being the material that the SKYE is constructed from. The exterior body panels, made in conjunction with Codem Composites, are made from a mix of flax composite and bio resin, was estimated to save 10,000kg of CO2 equivalent in production for the prototype vehicle alone.
The battery, provided by Nyobolt, also won favours, thanks to a 35kWh pack with a fast charging time of just 10 minutes. The cells were also produced with mass production in mind, making them a valid application for other EVs too. Nyobolt have managed to make an even faster charging battery recently, capable of going from 0-80% SOC in under five minutes – also inside a CALLUM concept car. Whilst the SKYE is only planned to be produced in small numbers, these innovations serve as proof of concept to implementing such solutions in the mass market EV world.
Scott Thompson, Programme Director for the Niche Vehicle Network, commented:
“We’re delighted that the Callum Skye has been awarded the Nick Carpenter Innovation Trophy this year. It’s been great to see the team at Callum create an exciting new vehicle design that not only looks fantastic, but also demonstrates real world innovation with the materials and technology it’s built with. The potential embedded CO2 reductions that have been realised through the use of sustainable materials with both the panels and tooling could be immediately transferrable to other vehicles across the niche sector, which is an important development to help support the transition towards net zero. Also seeing the potential offered by UK designed ultra-fast battery technology is really exciting too. The ability to charge in such a short time without degrading the life and performance of the battery could be a game changer for the niche sector and other high-performance products.”
