The conference—to be held at the International Digital Laboratory auditorium of the Warwick Manufacturing Group, University of Warwick, on 21 September 2011—arises from the work of Ricardo and its partners on the Low Carbon Vehicle Technology Project (LCVTP). This major multi-partner research program was launched in early 2010 as part of a UK government initiative to declare the West Midlands region a Low Carbon Economic area for advanced automotive engineering.

The project comprises a combined financial investment worth £19 million (US$30 million) by Advantage West Midlands and the European Regional Development Fund, with further contributions from the project’s industrial partners Ricardo, Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors European Technical Centre, MIRA, and Zytek Automotive, who are joined in the research by Warwick Manufacturing Group and Coventry University.

As the leader of work streams associated with APU design and waste energy recovery and storage, Ricardo has been responsible for the coordination and hosting of this project dissemination conference.

A range of detailed technical presentations will be provided by the project partners on topics including the challenges and potential solutions for range extended electric vehicle APUs, including the use of the Atkinson cycle to improve efficiency and specific aftertreatment challenges, and issues surrounding waste energy capture and storage including, for example, thermo-electric generation methods. The conference will conclude with a comparison of range extended electric vehicles to other low carbon powertrain architectures.

Attendance at the conference is free of charge but those wishing to participate must register in advance as delegates via the event web site http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/lcvtp/ or by e-mailing Matthew Little of Ricardo at [email protected].