A new £10 million fund has been awarded to three projects researching into the development of low emission solutions for the motor industry.
The grant, from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) was announced by Business minister Mark Prisk yesterday as he opened a new exhibition at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to showcase UK manufactured low carbon vehicles.
Brunel, Warwick and Loughborough universities will run the three successful research projects, which investigate into areas three separate areas; the development of hybrid electric subsytems, the use of recycled and recyclable material in building vehicles and optimising the performance of electric motors.
These projects have been developed by EPSRC with the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) through the Low Carbon Vehicle Innovation Platform Integrated Delivery Programme.
Business Minister Mark Prisk said: “The Coalition Government is absolutely committed to low carbon growth, tackling climate change and making our energy supply more secure.
“This exhibition highlights UK success as advanced manufacturers of low carbon vehicles and the £10m research grant will help ensure that the UK remains a world leader.”
Warwick University will use its £3 million share of the grant to enhance electrical drive systems of electric vehicles. Leading that project, Professor Phil Mawby said: “The high cost of electric vehicles is often attributed to the cost of their batteries when in fact the cost of the electrical powertrain is much higher than that of an equivalent internal combustion engine.
“Much research is already focused on batteries but we also need to work on this neglected feature of electrical vehicles and we have some novel ideas that we think will bring great benefits.”
The Low Carbon vehicle exhibition is the sixth in a rolling series held at the Department of Business, Innovations and Skills (BIS) to promote UK manufacturing excellence to businesses and Government officials who visit the department, and the exhibition will run until March 25.
Exhibits include a hydrogen fuel cell taxi produced by Intelligent Energy, a Range Rover Range_e, a Nissan Leaf, a Ford Transit Connect EV , the Toyota Auris, the Lotus Ranger Extender Engine an electric car battery made by Axeon, a MAHLE advanced downsizing demonstrator engine, Pod Point recharging points and an audio visual display of Leyland Truck’s DAF LF Hybrid truck
