UK Electric Vehicle Projects Can Compete For £15 Million

October 31st, 2014 by Zachary Shahan

The UK government and the non-departmental public body Innovate UK are partnering to put up about £15 million ($24 million) for the country’s latest low-emissions vehicles competition.

Of that £15 million, £11 million ($18 million) will be provided by the UK’s Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV), with the other £4 million ($6 million) provided by Innovate UK.

The competition is intended to spur the development of vehicle technologies capable of significantly lowering carbon dioxide emissions. In order for a proposal to be considered (as per competition guidelines), it must have at its core at least one of the following Automotive Council strategic technologies:

• Electric machines and power electronics
• Energy storage and energy management
• Lightweight vehicle and powertrain structures
• Internal combustion engines and energy efficiency

Potential proposals can of course feature any number of other “highly disruptive technologies” — it’s just that they must also contain at least one of the above.

As per other competition guidelines — proposal technologies can be initially developed for nearly any purpose, or type of transportation, in order to be eligible. All that is needed is a demonstration that it has a clear path of exploitation with regard to road-going vehicles.

A final note: proposals are required to be collaborative and business-led. Companies should be able to raise the funding needed to cover up to 50% of their project costs. Expectations, as far as project size go, are for total costs to range between £500,000 and £2 million ($804,000 to $3 million).

Image Credit: UK Flag via Flickr CC

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About the Author

Zach is the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular cleantech-focused website in the world, and Planetsave, a world-leading green and science news site. He has been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and he has been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, and wind energy since 2009. Aside from his work on CleanTechnica and Planetsave, he's the founder and director of Solar Love, EV Obsession, and Bikocity. To connect with Zach on some of your favorite social networks, go to ZacharyShahan.com and click on the relevant buttons.