SMMT News

BIS launches £40 million Heavy Duty Vehicle efficiency programme

23 March 2012 #SMMT News

Vince Cable today launched a £40 million Heavy Duty Vehicle (HDV) Efficiency Programme that will look at system integration and technology development across the HDV sector including with the aim to increase the efficiencies of land and marine vehicles by up to 30%.

This initial £3 million project announced by the Business Secretary will involve the design of a range of vehicles and machines to incorporate increased efficiencies. Through an Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) programme, the technologies developed will be utilised across a portfolio of vehicles which includes HGVs, coaches, buses, tractors, back-hoe loaders, wheeled loaders and articulated quarry trucks. Caterpillar is the preferred supplier of a £9 million demonstration phase.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said, “The creation of this new £40 million programme is welcome news as we move forward in our transition to a low carbon economy and renewed growth. Initiatives like this help underpin the government’s commitment to developing greener automotive solutions, which so far this year has also been boosted with the introduction of the Plug-In Van Grant and H2 Mobility programme”.

A previous ETI feasibility study found that the opportunities to accelerate vehicle technology development can only be achieved through investment in, and the testing of, a range of platform technologies, and this programme is designed to address that. Such activity is the core of the ETI’s objectives as it works to accelerate affordable and secure low carbon technology. The expectation is that vehicles and vessels incorporating technologies from this programme will be on sale by 2020.

 

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