News Release issued by
the COI News Distribution Service on 16 September 2010
Mass market
electric cars moved a step closer today as Transport Secretary
Philip Hammond awarded £24 million to further develop the
UK's low carbon vehicle capability.
The six winning projects - which together with contributions from
business will receive total funding of £52m - are part of the
latest Technology Strategy Board competition. Projects include the
development of new engines for plug-in hybrid versions of Nissan,
Lotus and Jaguar Land Rover cars, a lightweight electric bin
wagon, development of lightweight materials for vehicle weight
reduction, and new technologies using thermal energy to improve
vehicle performance.
The Government also set out the eligibility criteria for its
Plug-in Car Grant. Under the scheme motorists will receive a grant
of up to £5,000 to purchase electric, plug-in hybrid or hydrogen
fuelled cars. In order to be eligible, cars must meet appropriate
safety standards and must have been crash tested. They must also
meet minimum range and performance criteria.
The Government believes that this combined support will place the
UK at the forefront of low carbon automotive development and
provide a vital economic boost for the UK economy by giving us a
key competitive advantage in this increasingly important global market.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said:
“I am determined to make this Government the greenest ever and
transport will have a key role to play. But this will not be
achieved by forcing people off the road – it’s not the car that’s
the problem, it's the carbon.
"While I am convinced that rail will be the future of
long distance inter-urban journeys, we can't ignore the
fact that 84% of journeys are made by car and there is no
realistic prospect of displacing the private car for point to
point complex journeys.
"However, we are on the brink of a technological
revolution that will transform the way we see motoring in the 21st
century allowing the benefits that the private car delivers
without destroying the planet in the process."
In line with the Coalition Agreement commitment to mandate a
national recharging network, guidance has also been released to
the 15 places interested in bidding for the second round of the
Plugged-In-Places infrastructure programme. This sets out in more
detail what we want from these projects to support our
decision-making on a national recharging network.
Business Minister Mark Prisk said:
“The winning consortia are all exciting examples of the breadth
and depth of the UK’s technical capabilities in low carbon
vehicles.
"Collaboration between UK-based vehicle manufacturers,
supply chain companies and academia will help Britain become one
of the leading centres for the design, development and manufacture
of ultra-low carbon vehicles.
"All of these projects had to demonstrate a credible
route to market. This is about real business opportunities and
high-tech jobs being created from the move to a low carbon economy.”
Notes to Editors
1. OLEV is a cross-Government team, bringing together existing
policy and funding streams to drive and streamline policy
delivery. It incorporates policies, people and funding from DfT,
BIS and DECC.
2. The level of the Plug-In-Car Grant has been agreed until 31
March 2012. The level will be reviewed in January 2012. After
taking into consideration a number of key factors such as the
costs of vehicles and the development of the early market, the
level will then be set for subsequent years. £43m has been made
available up to the end of March 2012. The final budget beyond
2011/12 will be confirmed at the spending review.
3. The Plug-In Car Grant will require compliance with 8
eligibility criteria:
· Vehicle Type: New cars only (‘M1’ category vehicles,
this includes pre-registration conversions) i.e. excluding
motorcycles, quadricycles and vans.
· Carbon Dioxide tailpipe emissions: Less than 75g/km
· Range: EVs minimum 70 miles, PHEVs minimum electric
range 10 miles.
· Minimum top speed: 60mph.
· Warranty: 3 year or 60,000 miles vehicle warranty,
plus, a 3 year battery and electric drive train warranty with a
consumer option for a 2 year battery warranty extension.
· Battery
performance: Either a minimum 5 year warranty on the
battery and electric drive train as standard OR additional
evidence of battery performance to illustrate reasonable
performance after 3 years of use.
· Electrical Safety: Vehicles must comply with UN- ECE
Reg100.00 (PHEVs will be required to show they have met the
technical requirements of 01 series amendments to UN- ECE Reg
100); vehicle manufacturers will be required to identify risks
associated with vehicle use and state mitigating actions.
· Veh
icle crash safety: European Commission whole vehicle type
approval (EC WVTA, not small series) OR evidence that the car
demonstrates appropriate levels of safety as judged by
international standards.
4. Full details of these eligibility criteria will be published
shortly at www.dft.gov.uk/olev.
5. Consumers wishing to purchase cars under the Plug-In Car Grant
can do so via eligible vehicle dealerships from January 2011,
consumer should not apply directly to OLEV.
6. To date £8.8m has been awarded to London, Milton Keynes and
the North East through the Plugged-In Places Programme. We plan to
hold a second round of bidding in the autumn. The amount of
funding available for the second round of Plugged-In Places will
be determined as part of the spending review.
7. The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led executive
non-departmental public body, established by the government. Its
role is to promote and support research into, and development and
exploitation of, technology and innovation for the benefit of UK
business, in order to increase economic growth and improve the
quality of life. It is sponsored by the Department for Business,
Innovation and Skills (BIS). For more information please visit
www.innovateuk.org.
8. The winning projects are part of the Low Carbon Vehicles
Innovation Platform (launched September 2007) which delivers the
Government’s R&D funding on low carbon vehicles. With
initial funding from the Technology Strategy Board, Office for Low
Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and the Engineering & Physical
Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), the platform aims to promote
low carbon vehicle research, design, development and demonstration
in the UK.
The six successful projects are:
· Hybrid Integrated Urban Commercial Vehicle
Consortium members
Dennis Eagle Ltd (lead company), MIRA Ltd, Magnomatics Ltd, MTL
Group Ltd
Project Description
The Hybrid Integrated Urban Commercial Vehicle (HIUCV) is a
lightweight Heavy Goods Vehicle designed for refuse collection in
an urban environment. Fuel efficient, highly manoeuvrable and
quiet, the HiUCV is targeted to halve the overall carbon emissions
per tonne of waste collected of current best-in-class Refuse
Collection Vehicles (RCVs) in the urban environment. This will be
achieved through exploiting innovative British technologies in the
supply chain partners.
The HIUCV will be designed to significantly exceed legislative
and Government requirements for greener vehicles. This project
will produce a demonstrator for a commercially viable, highly
competitive, improved performance RCV for urban use with a high
percentage of UK sourced technology and components.
Media contact at lead company
Ron Bennett, ron.bennett@dennis-eagle.co.uk,
01926 316000
· VIPER - Vehicle Integrated Powertrain Energy Recovery
Consortium members
Jaguar Land Rover (lead company), Ford Motor Company, IAV (UK),
CPT, BP, University of Nottingham, Imperial College London
Project Description
VIPER – Vehicle Integrated Powertrain Energy Recovery – will show
how a reduction in CO 2 emissions of 4.5% could be achieved over
a broad range of new vehicles by optimising control of heat
energy, in today's conventional vehicles. The suppliers
in the VIPER project will develop new technologies to harness,
manage and store the heat energy and integrate these into a
practical demonstrator with two of the biggest vehicle
manufacturers in the UK. A prototype Land Rover vehicle will
demonstrate the benefits of the suppliers' technology on
CO 2 emissions. The academic expertise in computational and
experimental techniques will combine with engineering service
suppliers to develop new efficient methods for the optimisation of
future vehicles. The VIPER technologies could be applied to the
majority of new vehicles before the turn of the decade.
Media contact at lead company
Nicola Rzeznik, nrzeznik@jaguarlandrover.com,
07736 912266
· Evolution of REEV Technologies – Building a UK Supply Base
(REEVolution)
Consortium members
Jaguar Land Rover (lead company), Lotus Cars Ltd, Nissan Motor
Co. Ltd, EVO Electric Ltd, Xtrac Ltd, Think Global, Axeon Ltd
Project Description
The project aims to deliver range extended electric vehicle
(REEV) products while developing four fledgling UK suppliers of
novel ultra low carbon (ULC) technologies, through working with
three major UK vehicle manufacturers and a world-leading
engineering consultancy. The consortium companies will collaborate
over the next three years to develop advanced electric powertrains
and a greater understanding of the commercial requirements needed
for high performance electric and range extended electric
vehicles. The work will accelerate the development of new
technologies and key commodities whilst laying the foundations for
a globally competitive supply base.
The REEVolution programme is the next phase of a previously
successful project led by Jaguar Land Rover called Limo Green, a
series hybrid range extended electric Jaguar XJ, which was part
funded by the Technology Strategy Board. It is expected that the
REEVolution project will deliver a 70% - 75% CO 2 emission
reduction through implementation of this technology into three
very different currently best in class vehicle applications.
Media contact at lead company
Nicola Rzeznik, nrzeznik@jaguarlandrover.com,
07736 912266
· Lightweight Ultra Low Emissions Delivery Van
Consortium members
Intelligent Energy (lead company), Revolve, Caparo
Project Description
This project will deliver two prototype lightweight electric
vans, with diesel range extender. T he van design and driver
ergonomics will be specifically configured to meet the
requirements of commercial vehicle fleet operators such as Royal
Mail and DHL (both of whom have already provided initial input to
the project).
The project consortium combines 'best of
British' automotive design, engineering and development
technology and will utilise the UK’s vehicle centric technologies
and supply networks. It brings significant UK based supplier
involvement and taps UK expertise and innovation. The consortium
will also leverage the best of British technology from Ricardo,
Lotus and EVO electric motors plus other technology SME’s.
This project will provide the opportunity to develop a new UK
based manufacturing operation producing 10,000 lightweight
electric vans a year from 2014, potentially creating 500
manufacturing jobs. Additional jobs will be created in the UK
supply chain at each of the tier 1 technology suppliers who will
be providing components and sub assembled parts for production.
A hydrogen fuel cell version of the van is due to be launched in
2017. This will reduce tailpipe CO 2 emissions from 70g/km to zero.
Media contact at lead company
Andrew Tempest, andy.tempest@intelligent-energy.com,
01509 271 271
· CREO - CO2 Reduction through Emissions Optimisation
Consortium members
Ford Motor Company Ltd (lead company), Jaguar Land Rover, Johnson
Matthey Plc, ITM Power (Trading) Ltd, Revolve Technologies Ltd,
Cambustion Ltd, University of Bradford, University of Liverpool,
University of Birmingham.
Project Description
For vehicles to have minimal impact on air quality, catalytic
converters have been fitted to modern engines. Although great
strides have been made to improve the fuel economy of vehicles
there is still an impact of about 4% due to the emissions control
system. This project aims to re-design the engine and
after-treatment as a complete system, meeting legislative,
customer and business requirements while minimising CO2 levels.
This will be achieved through the use of novel after-treatment
techniques, the on-board generation and use of hydrogen and the
development and application of new optimisation tools.
The major contributors to this project are Ford Motor Company,
which manufactures about 2 million engines per year in the UK,
Jaguar Land Rover, which installs engines supplied by Ford, and
Johnson Matthey, which provides many of the catalytic converters
fitted into these engines. The potential UK supply chain is
enhanced with the inclusion of ITM who will provide specialist
equipment during the project. Three vehicles will be built to
demonstrate the potential of the technology – petrol and diesel
cars and a diesel hybrid bus. The target is a 4% improvement in
CO2 by 2015 potentially rising to 15% by 2025.
Media contact at lead company
Brian Bennett, BBENNETT@ford.com, 01277-252957
· Aluminium Matrix Composite Materials for Vehicle Weight
Reduction (AluMatCom)
Consortium members
Jaguar Cars Ltd (lead company), Composite Metal Technology Ltd,
Textile Centre of Excellence, Antich & Sons (Huddersfield) Ltd
Project Description
AluMatCom is a project to investigate the potential for use of
reinforcing fibres in cast aluminum components to provide a
material that has the potential to give the strength &
stiffness of steel with the weight of aluminium. The project will
bring together leading players in the weaving (Antich and Textile
CoE), casting (Composite Metal Technology), and automotive
industries (Jaguar Land Rover) with input from the AMRC,
University of Sheffield.
Lighter vehicles require less energy (and emit less CO2) making
aluminium matrix composites (AMCs) especially attractive to a
premium vehicle manufacturers. AMCs have wide potential in
vehicles and the objective of this project is to prove
engineering, manufacturing & commercial feasibility of the
materials, enabling Jaguar and Land Rover to make further gains in
the environmental performance of their products.
Media contact at lead company
Nicola Rzeznik, nrzeznik@jaguarlandrover.com,
07736 912266
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