The UK Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) have jointly agreed to invest £10 million (US$16.2 million) in grants to 16 collaborative research and development projects that focus on achieving significant cuts in CO2 emissions for vehicle-centric technologies in low carbon vehicles. Technologies supported include ultra lightweight engine designs, advanced battery management systems and the next generation of electric motors.
The consortia developing the technologies will be lead by Advanced Composites Group Ltd; Amberjac Projects Ltd; Ashwoods Automotive Ltd; Axon Automotive; Bladon Jets; Cobham CTS Ltd; Drive System Design Ltd; Econolyst Ltd; Jaguar Cars Ltd; Leyland Trucks; Magnomatics Ltd; Morgan Motor Company; Prodrive; Sevcon Ltd; T&L Process Technology Ltd; and The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC).
The Technology Strategy Board allocated £8 million from its budget to co-fund the R&D projects and, after receiving so many top-quality applications, BIS agreed to provide additional government support of £2 million, bringing total government investment to £10 million. Including contributions from the participating companies, the total value of the research and development projects is more than £19 million (US$30.8 million).
Projects were selected through the “Highly innovative strategic technologies in low carbon vehicles” competition for collaborative R&D funding. The offer of funding to these research and development projects is conditional and remains subject to the successful completion of Technology Strategy Board compliance and financial review processes.
| Project title | Project partners |
|---|---|
| Affordable COMPosites for Lightweight Car structurEs (ACOMPLICE) | Advanced Composites Group Ltd (lead), Aston Martin Lagonda, ABB Robotics, Delta Motorsport, Pentangle Engineering Services |
| Novel Automotive Battery Including Enabling Innovations of Charge Shuttling and Thermal Energy Management Features | Amberjac Projects Ltd (lead), Fen Technology Ltd, University of Sheffield |
| Low Cost, Scalable Low Rare Earth Electric Motor | Ashwoods Automotive (lead), Bristol University, MCT Reman |
| Composite Ultra Lightweight Automotive Suspension Components (CUSP) | Axon Automotive Ltd (lead), Tallent Automotive Ltd, WMG Warwick University |
| Validation of Automotive Micro Turbine Range Extender (VAMTRE) | Bladon Jets Limited (lead), Jaguar Land Rover, Warwick University |
| Rapid Design and Development of a Switched Reluctance Traction Motor | Cobham CTS Ltd (lead), Jaguar Land-Rover, Ricardo UK Ltd |
| MSYS: YASA motor development with integrated 3-speed drivetrain | Drive System Design (lead), Oxford Yasa Motors, MIRA |
| Aluminum Lattice Structures via Additive Manufacturing (ALSAM) | Econolyst Ltd (lead), Alcon, Delphi Diesel Systems, Renishaw plc, Loughborough University, Delcam, Axon Automotive |
| DualCore Lightweight Engine | Jaguar Cars Ltd (lead), G E Precision Engineering Ltd, Integral Powertrain Ltd |
| Light weight Future Truck Chassis Concept | Leyland Trucks (lead), Sapa Profiles UK Limited, Mi Technology |
| MAGSPLIT - Magnetic Power Split Technology for Parallel Hybrid Electric Vehicles | Magnomatics Ltd (lead), Ford Motor Company Ltd., Romax Technology Ltd, Arnold Magnetic Technologies Ltd. |
| Magnesium Intensive BIW Structures for the Premium Automotive Sector | Morgan Motor Company Ltd (lead), Superform Aluminum Ltd, Magnesium Elektron Ltd, Penso Holdings Ltd, Coventry University |
| High temperature converters - fast track to increasing the speed of adoption of electric powertrains | Prodrive (lead), Ricardo, Cosworth, Converteam, Semelab, Diamond Hard Surfaces, GE Aviation, GaN Systems, University of Warwick |
| High Torque Density Switched Reluctance Drive System for Low Carbon Vehicles | Sevcon Limited (lead), Cummins Generator Technologies, Newcastle Univ. |
| Light and Sound (LANDS) | T&L Process Technology Ltd (lead), Brunel University, Jaguar Land Rover, Dupont Performance Polymers, Axion Recycling Ltd. |
| Sustainable lightweight low cost battery systems for extended life cycles (EV-Lite) | The Manufacturing Technology Centre Ltd (lead), BBIG, Cenex, CRR, EIG, Loughborough University, RDVS, Unipart |
SOURCE: www.greencarcongress.comhttp://www.greencarcongress.com/2011/09/uk-tsb-and-bis-investing-10m-in-16-low-carbon-vehicle-projects.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+greencarcongress%2FTrBK+%28Green+Car+Congress%29