Engineering news
A consortium led by Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) has won a £10 million low carbon battery prize to help it develop the next generation of batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles in the UK.
Innovate UK and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) awarded the funds to WMG for its project that will help develop the next generation of traction batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles. The project will combine the best human and automated assembly methods to manufacture battery packs and lay the foundations of a new UK automotive supply chain based around this technology.
Within the project, the OEMs Jaguar Land Rover, JCB, ADL, and Ariel will provide battery requirements and coach the supply chain to meet full automotive quality, performance, robustness and safety standards.
Supply chain partners Delta Motorsport, Potenza, Vayon Group, RDVS, PAISEU and Trackwise will design and develop the battery systems to meet these requirements.
Technology partners WMG, HORIBA MIRA, and the University of Oxford will support the design, development and manufacturing process while Axion will develop the lifecycle management of the battery system, including its recycling, remanufacturing and/or repurposing at end of life.
As well as leading the project, WMG will host the pilot manufacturing line as part of its Energy Innovation Centre on the University of Warwick campus.
Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, chairman of WMG said: “The global energy storage market will be worth $50 billion by 2020; of this, $21 billion will be in transportation. Automotive is well on its way to displacing consumer electronics as the biggest user of energy storage. This project will play a significant role in the evolution of that market by creating a UK supply chain for battery packs to suit hybrid and electric vehicles requiring volumes from hundreds to thousands of units per year. It will also create a lasting facility at WMG for the development of future battery packs. This will also create thousands of jobs in this field.”
Business minister Anna Soubry also unveiled details of a £20 million low carbon vehicle initiative led by OLEV. The 'Seeding Tomorrow's Vehicle Technologies Today' competition will support the development of new technology for road vehicles aimed at delivering significant reductions in CO2 and other emissions.
Soubry said: “Together these projects will help keep the British low carbon vehicle industry at the cutting edge – generating valuable trade and investment opportunities and new highly-skilled jobs. The £20 million competition will springboard some of the UK’s best low carbon vehicle innovations to market and Warwick Manufacturing Group’s battery project will create a new UK supply chain in a field with huge growth opportunities.”
Meanwhile, The Niche Vehicle Network, which provides innovation support to the UK’s vibrant niche and specialist vehicle manufacturing sector, has revealed the six engineering and development projects that have been granted funding through its R&D programme.
The projects, each lasting no more than six months, will aim to develop a variety of innovative low carbon solutions with huge potential impact within the niche vehicle manufacturing sector. Grant support for the projects will be provided by the Niche Vehicle R&D Programme, which is funded by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK and OLEV.
The network’s annual R&D competition aims to accelerate the development and introduction of cleaner and more fuel-efficient niche vehicles through more effective propulsion systems, alternative fuels, improved aerodynamics and reduced vehicle weight.
The winning R&D projects for 2015 include:
- The production of a prototype chassis to validate the concept of using butted steel tubing to reduce weight – as a basis for future market exploitation.
- Electric hybridisation of a bus powertrain and electrification of ancillary mechanical loads through the integration and demonstration of a range of novel technologies.
- The creation of a new ultra-lightweight, low emission demonstrator vehicle using a combination of carbon fibre and steel tubing, with the vehicle powered by a novel lightweight rotary engine.
- The design and manufacture a prototype advanced composite chassis structure, formed from bonded panels for light-weighting, reduced tooling costs and lower production cycle times.
- The research and development of a manufacturing method to deliver a step change in the economic manufacture of ultra-lightweight magnesium pressings for the niche vehicle sector using the Heat treatment Forming and in-die Quenching (HFQ®) process.
- The facilitating of lower like-for-like CO2 emissions, improved fuel economy and increased range for electric vehicles through the investigation and demonstration of innovative passive and active aerodynamic devices.
All of the projects will receive 50% of their costs, up to a total of £150,000, and cover the balance of the project costs with their own resources. All of the projects are collaborative between three UK-based companies active in the niche vehicle sector.