eAPC23: Industrialising Net Zero Automotive Technology

Fund details

Your project must:

• contribute to the UK’s strategic aims and direction of travel towards net zero transport vision, such as the Automotive Council’s Roadmaps
• deliver vehicle programmes, on-vehicle technologies and associated manufacturing processes that support the transition to net zero
• support growth, transition and security of the UK’s automotive supply chain, increasing capability, whilst improving productivity, efficiency and competitiveness

Your project must support a digitally enabled or integrated solution that will advance:

• decarbonise technology design
• development
• optimisation via digital twinning
• digital manufacturing
• cyber-physical integration
• data analytics, testing and verification for sub-systems
• vehicle-system or transport ecosystem

You must ensure you can demonstrate how your project will create innovation, add value and have an impact on commercialisation.

Your project must advance technologies in one or more of the following areas:

• energy storage, batteries, battery components, management and integration systems
• fuel cell systems and associated balance of plant
• electric machines design, manufacture and disassembly
• power electronics design, development, integration and recycling
• fossil fuel free (at the point of use), internal combustion (in the case of on-road solutions, we will support project proposals that aim to achieve zero harmful tailpipe emissions)
• hydrogen storage and management systems
• design, development and optimisation of automotive net-zero technologies
• manufacturing processes associated with industrialising relevant net-zero technologies
• design for disassembly and recycling of electrical energy storage and e-machines
• direct recycling methods resulting in significant recovery of critical materials
• digitalisation leveraged during the design, development, production and manufacturing, testing, validation and verification and production or in-service phases
• digitalisation for vehicle development, design and manufacture

The economic benefit of your project will be assessed on criteria including but not limited to:

• scale and impact on the UK economy
• foreign investment anchored in the UK
• jobs created or safeguarded
• upskilling or reskilling of the workforce
• automotive supply chain in the UK (upstream, midstream and downstream)
• lifetime environmental impact of the vehicle and circular economy models

Your proposal must evidence:

• a clear route to market exploitation, that can be evidenced, including IP generated for the UK
• a credible consortium-led approach to the project agreed upon in principle and able to proceed to a formal collaborative agreement
• on what would happen should the project not be funded

Projects will be encouraged to share their results to bring benefit to the wider UK automotive industry.

Specific themes

You must consider which technology or technologies best represent your project and rank them in order of their significance and impact on your project. The one ranked first must be the lead technology:

• electric machines and power electronics design, manufacture and disassembly and recycling processes
• energy storage and energy management
• lightweight vehicles and powertrain structures, including lightweight materials and manufacturing
• fuel cell systems and associated balance of plant
• thermal propulsion systems and alternative fuels
• digitalisation for design for manufacture and recycling, development of low carbon vehicle innovation, manufacture of vehicle systems and sub-systems, data analytics, redesign, test and validation and verification

Your lead technology must be at least 50%. You can also rank up to an additional two supporting technologies that can have a maximum of 25% each.

Your percentages must add up to 100%.

Eligibility

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request between £2.5 million and £20 million
• start by 1 November 2023
• end by 31 October 2026
• last between 18 months and 36 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK