Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, has announced that the Technology Strategy Board has awarded £11 million to five UK automotive manufacturers to fund ground-breaking low emission vehicle technology projects to reduce emissions.
Ariel, Dearman Engine, Jaguar Land Rover, Lotus Cars and Torotrak Development will all lead projects that were successful in winning funding from the Building an automotive supply chain of the future competition. Each low emission vehicle technology project has been awarded between £1.9 and £2.7 million towards its proposed costs. The total proposed cost for all five projects is estimated £19 million, meaning TSB funding will cover almost 60% of the development costs.
Each project demonstrates an innovative, business-led idea, which shows a strong potential for industrialisation, strengthening the UK’s low emission vehicle technology supply chain. Somerset-based Ariel, which currently produces the Atom sports car, will partner with four technology companies to develop an ultra-high performance production car with zero or low emissions.
Meanwhile, Jaguar Land Rover will use the funding towards developing its Vehicle Integrated Powertrain Energy Recovery system in conjunction with Ford, the University of Nottingham and European Thermodynamics. Lotus Cars will also work to mature its race-proven integrated flywheel KERS system for use in its Evora road car.
Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board said, “We want to ensure that the UK is a global leader in low carbon transport technology, by bringing businesses together to work on ground-breaking projects to reduce emissions. These developments will enable us to embed innovation further into the UK automotive sector, giving us a competitive edge in this industry.”
The Building an automotive supply chain of the future competition is the tenth of its kind under the Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform’s integrated delivery platform (IDP).The IDP has secured funding from the Technology Strategy Board, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), regional bodies and devolved administrations.
Click through for more information on the winners of the Building an automotive supply chain of the future competition.
