Green flag for fast-start vehicle demonstrators 

£18.7 million is being invested in 10 fast-start projects for the accelerated development of automotive products with a potential route to market.

With £9 million in Government support through the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) matched by industry funding, successful applicants will now complete and deliver a product, system, or vehicle within 12 months.

Announced ahead of the Cenex-LCV Cenex-CAM show this week, a wide-range of UK-based SMEs and multinationals at the cutting edge of vehicle innovation are benefitting from the latest Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator competition (ARMD2) from the APC.

Including: the development of electric first responder motorcycles for the emergency services, EV delivery vans, fuel cell technology, electric drives and motors, as well as tractors and composite materials.

CEO Ian Constance said,

The Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator competition is a distinct offering from the APC as it sees the development of a new, tangible product in such a short period of time. The successful applicants all have fantastic proposals that now have the green flag to kick-start. In just 12 months we will see the fruits of this £18.7 million investment from both industry and Government. Given the success of the previous round, the dozen projects we’ve funded today will be ones to keep an eye on when they are delivered next year.

First launched in 2020 to support UK industry transition to a net-zero automotive supply chain, ARMD’s aim was to get innovation into action. The completed demonstrators were unveiled a year later in 2021 at Cenex-LCV Cenex-CAM by Trudy Harrison MP – in her previous role of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport.

For this latest cohort under ARMD2, the chance to see the final products, systems and vehicles will be at the next event in September 2024.

On the latest announcements by the UK Government for grants to the automotive sector, Minister for Industry and Economic Security Nusrat Ghani said:

The UK automotive sector is at the cutting edge of exploiting innovative technologies. These have the potential to create jobs, grow the economy and accelerate how we reach net-zero. This package of funding will help industry and government work together and take decisive action in targeting areas where the UK is leading the way. This government has shown time and time again that we are committed to creating the right conditions to make the UK the best location in the world to manufacture.

In detail the winners are: 

Involution Technologies – Invo-EDU

• Demonstrating an innovative electric drive unit (EDU) suitable to drive any large on/off-highway commercial, construction or agricultural vehicle. 

Prodrive Engineering – EVOLV 

• Designing and building a demonstrator of an L7e category EV zero-emission ‘last mile’ delivery vehicle.

White Motorcycle Concepts – Electric First Responder Motorcycle (WMC300E+) 

• Evolving their operational emergency services hybrid motorcycle aiming to deliver a fully operational, full-scale, rapid-charge first responder electric demonstrator motorcycle.  

JLR – SOCA – Sustainably Optimised Composite Automotive 

• Aiming to decarbonise the manufacturing of composite component for automotive applications through the combination of innovative technology and material.

Parker Hannifin – Novel Fuel-cell Humidification System for Zero-emission Heavy Duty Vehicle Applications 

• Utilising proprietary hollow fibre membrane technology to develop a novel humidifier, maximising fuel cell performance and operational life. 

Viritech – Project ICEBreaker 

• Developing and testing a novel fuel cell powertrain for HGVs offering higher efficiency and lighter weight.

Wrightbus – CoacH2 – Next-generation hydrogen fuel-cell coach powertrain demonstrator 

• Accelerating the development of zero-emission hydrogen fuel-cell electric coaches, with a full on-vehicle technology demonstrator.

Maeving – New Powertrain For Removable Battery Electric Motorcycle 

• Developing a new powertrain for use in their removable battery electric motorcycles.

Protean Electric – Olympus  

• Developing lightweight and novel In-Wheel Motors (IWM) in order to accelerate the adoption of IWM by OEM’s, through improving the state-of-the-art IWM technologies and meeting the advanced requirements of leading OEMs. 

Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains – HPP Solid State Battery Concept 

• Producing an innovative solid-state battery solution capable of meeting the unique requirements of solid-state cells.