- The UK’s Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), along with the Department for Business and Trade, today announced over £85 million worth of investment for the UK’s zero-emission automotive industry.
- This money, part-funded from both government and industry, will go into four specific major projects, which all hope to pave a way toward’s the UK’s various net zero targets, particularly in the automotive sector.
- The funding should also help grow the UK’s local car manufacturing industry, whilst still facilitating the switch to zero emission transport.
Nearly £100m of funding announced by the APC
The largest project under this new funding is the ‘Collaborative Research and Development programme‘, a £59.9m project, with £29.6m of this provided by the Department for Business and Trade, in conjunction with the APC. This involves eight automotive companies with UK bases, such as Jaguar Land Rover, Ford, Gordon Murray Group, Cummins, and Protean Electric. This involves several separate projects, all based around reducing CO2 in manufacture and use of ZEVs. For example, JLR will develop a UK supply chain consisting of lighter composite materials for the automotive industry, that are fully circular – helping reduce carbon footprints.
Another notable project to come out of this fresh investment is the ‘Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator‘ programme, worth £18.3m, with successful applicants now expected to deliver on their respective projects within the next twelve months. This includes, for example, electric trucks destined for services like the National Health Service and Royal Mail, as well as a new electric Triumph motorbike, alongside electric fire engines, electric buses, and more.
£4.6m of this investment, with £2.3m coming from the government, will go towards seven new feasibility studies, with all having the hopeful goal of boosting the UK’s EV supply chain. From the seven UK-based companies who were successful, Nyobolt was a notable entry, hoping to validate high-volume production of its ultra-fast charging battery technology – which in an earlier study, charged a concept EV from 0-80% in under five minutes.
Finally, another £3m investment, with £2.3m coming from government grants, was given to 14 UK automotive companies, in the eighth round of the APC’s ongoing Technology Developer Accelerator Programme. Through this, each company will receive up to £170,000 in funding, along with assistance in growing their businesses. These new companies include a variety of EV-related industries, such as improved performance batteries, battery recycling, advanced materials for manufacturing EVs, and solutions for wirelessly charging EVs.
Advanced Propulsion Centre CEO, Ian Constance, commented:
“Congratulations to all the companies awarded funding in this latest round of competitions facilitated by the APC. From collaborative projects to further advance the UK’s excellence in automotive production, to fast-start demonstrators delivering cutting-edge technology in a short period of time, through to our award-winning SME programme, it’s important we continue to show that the automotive sector is vital to the country’s net-zero goals and future economic growth, further evidencing that the UK is a highly investable opportunity.”
