New funding package awards £89m for electric vehicle technology development

A new £89 million funding pot has been handed to 20 net zero projects which look at developing the next generation of electric vehicle technology.

Awarded through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC), the fund is made up of £45.2 million from the government alongside a further £42.7 million from the automotive industry.

The government says that this new funding will ‘will accelerate the development of zero-emission technology in the UK, safeguarding and creating jobs and supporting investment in cutting edge R&D’. It’s estimated that the projects combined will ‘create or safeguard’ more than 4,700 jobs while saving up to 65 million tonnes of CO2 from being emitted over the next decade.

The grants support:
4 collaborative R&D projects
7 key feasibility R&D projects
5 projects which will assess if automotive businesses are ready for scale-up.

Read our statement for more: https://t.co/tBFbBs6gF7 pic.twitter.com/VY5MSokSya

— Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (@theapcuk) October 9, 2023

Aston Martin is one of the big names to benefit from the funding, with the Gaydon-based manufacturer said to be accelerating the development of a luxury EV as a result of the injection of cash.

British engine maker Perkins – which is a subsidiary of Caterpillar – will also develop a net-zero hydrogen-hybrid power system for off-road vehicles.

Ian Constance, APC Chief Executive, said: “This latest round of funding coincides with the APC’s 10th anniversary. We have seen over £1.4 billion of investment into automotive projects since the APC was set up, and I am proud of the impact that we have made here in the UK.

“This latest announcement includes a diverse set of OEMs and suppliers that demonstrate the strength of UK automotive. They will further add to our portfolio of innovative projects and continue to drive the UK to deliver on its net zero ambition.”

Some £11.3m has also been awarded to 12 UK-based projects funded through the second instalment of the government’s Scale-up Readiness Validation competition and the fourth round of the APC’s Automotive Transformation Fund feasibility studies competition. These include projects such as Green Lithium, which plans to build a lithium scale-up plant in Teeside and Ilika Technologies which is working to ‘scale-up’ its solid state battery technology.

A new Niche Vehicle Network (NVN) Production Readiness Competition has seen £1.1 million awarded to four low-volume projects, including the creation of an electric version of the off-road-focused Ariel Nomad.