To support the future of green automotive manufacturing and accelerate the UK’s transition to net-zero emission vehicles, the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) has guided £9.4 million (US$13 million) in public funding to 22 feasibility studies looking to scale up the industrialization of low-carbon emission vehicle technologies.

In the second round of funding awarded as part of the APC’s Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) the 22 studies will explore the feasibility of UK-based battery production, the development of motors & drives and fuel cell technologies as well as recycling solutions.

With grants awarded to companies based across the UK, the studies will be commercially-led and evaluate the viability of developing large-scale manufacturing facilities, advanced manufacturing processes and the product scale-up of essential technologies for a future net-zero vehicle supply chain.

The key technology opportunities being explored with this funding include:

Batteries

• Advanced Energy Minerals (UK) Ltd – 5N HPA Manufacturing Plant – Coventry, West Midlands

• Cornish Lithium Ltd – Trelavour Hard Rock Lithium Scoping Study – Penryn, Cornwall

• EVC Powertech Ltd – 6-minute EV – an EV battery that can be charged in 6-minutes – Birmingham, West Midlands

• Green Lithium Refining Ltd – Green Lithium – Rosyth Refinery – Rosyth, Dunfermlin

• Ilika Technologies Ltd & Comau – A technical feasibility study of the manufacturing scale up for Ilika’s Solid State Batteries – Romsey, Hampshire

• Ricardo UK Ltd – Feasibility study to quantify the opportunity for niche volume battery pack manufacturing in the UK, including consideration of ‘second life’ processing – Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex

• RML Group Ltd – Feasibility study into the scale-up operations and processes of a UK battery manufacturing facility – Wellingborough, Northants

• Talga Anode UK Ltd – CALIBER: Conductive Additives to reduce Lithium Ion Battery Electrode Resistance – Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

Fuel Cells

• GKN Autostructures Ltd – H.E.N.R.Y – Telford, Shropshire

• Haydale Composite Solutions Ltd – Graphene Enhanced Composite Hydrogen Tanks for Automotive (REACH-OUT) – Loughborough, Leicestershire

• Loop Technology Ltd – HySMART – Dorchester, Dorset

• Ultima Forma Ltd – HYSTOR – Composite Electroformed Hydrogen Tank – Farnham, Surrey

• Xcience Ltd – Hydrogen Storage for Transport – HYTRANSTOR – Frimley, Surrey

Motors & Drives

• Electrified Automation Ltd – Removing barriers for OEMs through Automated Manufacturing (ROAM) – Bridgwater, Somerset

• Equipmake Ltd – Electric Drivetrain Scale Up Manufacturing Study (EDSUMS) – Snetterton, Norfolk

• Ford Motor Company Ltd – GigaDriveUK: Feasibility of high volume electric drive unit and hybrid transmission manufacture within Ford UK – Basildon, Essex

• Less Common Metals Ltd – New UK Magnet plant – Ellesmere Port, Cheshire

• Meritor Heavy Vehicle Braking Systems (UK) Ltd – PARETA – High Efficiency Parallel Motor for Automotive Application – Cwmbran, Monmouthshire

• Q-Flo Ltd – Enabling EMI Shielding – Doncaster, South Yorkshire

Recycling

• Baruch Enterprises Ltd – Lithium Ion Battery Assembly and Remanufacturing facility (Li-BAR) – Edmonton, London

• Entrust EV Technology Ltd – Reprocessing Retired EV Batteries for Secondary Use – Lancaster, Lancashire

• Innvotek Ltd – Second-life batteries for future applications (Batt2TheFuture) – Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

Launched in July 2020, the ATF builds on the significant R&D base supported through the APC since 2013, helping to form the last part of the bridge into industrialization at scale. The program can provide support for investment in the key technology areas of batteries, fuel cells, motors, drives and power electronics, working to develop their upstream supply chains as well as circling back to address the opportunities around recycling technologies to enable the UK to be globally competitive.