Tuesday 13 September 2022

Fresh £25m investment to plug in electric vehicle technology

The electric vehicle (EV) industry has received a £25 million boost to support the growth of manufacturing and expansion of businesses in the UK automotive supply chain.

The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) announced the 22 winners, comprising of 35 UK-based companies and research organisations, that will receive up to £2 million each through its Scale-up Readiness Validation (SuRV) competition.

SuRV was launched after insight showed there is often a need to validate products or processes to de-risk the making of key decisions for much greater investment.

The winners of the funding will work on a range of processes and pilot projects that could grow to be large-scale manufacturing of technologies, including power electronics, motors, batteries and fuel cells.

Winners include Avocet Battery Materials, Nyobolt, Cornish Lithium, Altilium Metals, ZF Automotive UK, Deep Gear Company, Seren Technologies and SGA Technologies.

Up to £1 billion is being invested through the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) in developing “a high-value, end-to-end electrified automotive supply chain” in the UK, with the fund already being used to develop battery gigafactories and supply of critical materials.

APC Chief Executive Ian Constance said: “These successful projects will support the UK automotive industry, by increasing confidence in large-scale manufacturing investments and building electrified supply chains.

“It is vital in the transition to net zero that the automotive sector seizes the opportunity to grow the industry, create or safeguard jobs and build on the expertise anchored here in the UK.”