The UK is seeking to put green technologies at the heart of
economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The manufacturing of power electronics, machines and drives
(PEMD) required across sectors present a significant global
growth opportunity for UK companies.
Further, zero emission vehicle technologies are a key part of the
country’s efforts to meet its carbon reduction targets.
The government has launched the £80 million Industrial Strategy
Challenge Fund Driving the Electric Revolution
Challenge to help businesses to meet this need.
The Challenge will accelerate the UK’s ability to deliver; next
generation electric vehicles, hybrid aircraft, energy generation,
smart grids, robotics & industrial drives, consumer products,
low-carbon off-highway vehicles for construction and agriculture,
low-carbon maritime and rail supporting the realisation of Net
Zero targets through clean innovation.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, has up to £15
million co-funded from Driving the Electric Revolution and
the Office for Low Emission
Vehicles (OLEV) to support business-led research that
will develop supply chains and manufacturing capability for PEMD
technologies across all sectors and support the development of
new technologies that enable zero-emission vehicles. The funding
competition has 2 strands.
Dr Will Drury, Challenge Director for Driving the Electric
Revolution said: “This competition is an exciting opportunity for
UK businesses to engage with Driving the Electric Revolution,
collaborate and innovate delivering clean growth of the UK Power
Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD) supply chains.
“The projects that we fund will catalyse the development of
manufacturing capability and resilient supply chains for PEMD
activities: the building blocks for all sectors undergoing
electrification. Driving the Electric Revolution will facilitate
the economic growth opportunities from the shift to Net Zero
carbon emissions and ensure the UK is placed to deliver and grow
the sovereign supply chains of the future.”
Strand 1: Projects must develop PEMD supply chain improvements
Up to £5 million is available to support business-led projects
that aim to improve the UK supply chain for power electronics,
machines, and drives.
Projects could work on one or more of the following:
- manufacturing process development such as improving
productivity, implementing new tools, automating processes,
reconfiguring processes to improve productivity or flexibility
- design for manufacture such as designing or redesigning a
product for more efficient production, specification of a
manufacturing process, improvements in modelling and simulation
software, developments to allow manufacture of products with
recycling taken into consideration
- circular economy approaches such as scale-up of processes for
recycling and recovery of materials, lifecycle and embedded
carbon analysis, and waste reduction and process energy
efficiency
- innovative testing and validation such as virtual product
validation, and scale-up or automation of testing and validation
processes
- the competition is open, and the deadline for applications is
at 11am on 29 July 2020
- businesses of any size may apply and must work with at least
one other organisation
- we expect projects to range in size between £100,000 and
£500,000 and last between 3 and 9 months
-
view the online briefing
event
Strand 2: work must target zero or very low emissions
Up to £10 million is available to support feasibility studies and
research and development projects looking to develop technologies
for zero emission vehicles or that target emissions significantly
lower than 75g of CO2 per km. Projects developing electric
vehicle charging are also eligible for support.
Projects must build on a previous research project or feasibility
study and could work on niche or mainstream vehicles including
motorcycles, cars, goods vehicles and emergency vehicles.
Work could include:
- battery technologies
- electrification of conventional powertrains
- hybridisation technologies
- technologies that increase the efficiency of powertrain or
auxiliary systems
- hydrogen technologies
- range extender technologies
- EV charging services including charging solutions, roaming,
integration and grid services
- the competition is open, and the deadline for applications is
at 11am on 29 July 2020
- businesses of any size may apply, and they can work alone or
with up to 2 other organisations
- we expect projects to range in size between £100,000 and
£500,000 and last up to 6 months
- an online briefing
event takes place on 22 June 2020
