funding news
24/07/2012 - Government Spearheads Funding Drive for Low-Carbon Vehicle Projects
The Government is boosting the commercialisation of low-carbon vehicle technologies with public and private sector investment totalling £56 million.
Over £27 million of funding from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and the Technology Strategy Board will be complemented by £29 million of private sector funding to finance seventeen major research and development projects.
Projects set to benefit from the new investment include a programme to develop a new, low cost, complete EV drive system, lead by Ashwoods Automotive. Another project led by mi Technology Group Ltd will develop a 'car for young drivers' designed to alleviate the issues associated with getting young drivers safely integrated into the vehicle owning and driving population.
Other companies set to benefit from the low carbon transport funding include Artemis Intelligent Power Ltd, Delta Motorsport Ltd, GKN Structures, Prodrive Automotive Technology (Europe) Ltd, Ricardo UK Ltd and Turbo Power Systems.
On announcing the new investment, Transport Minister, Norman Baker MP commented:
"Accelerating the commercialisation of low carbon vehicle technologies will help to achieve our challenging climate change targets as well as creating new jobs, and increasing opportunities for UK businesses on the world stage.
"It is great to see such a positive response from industry to this competition, with the winning projects covering a range of vehicle technologies from manufacturers, suppliers and universities."
Car manufacturers are under increasing pressure to reduce vehicles' greenhouse gas emissions to meet EU regulations. Each manufacturer can face heavy fines if they do not achieve specific CO2 emissions targets.
Earlier this month, the EU Commission outlined plans to tighten limits on how much carbon dioxide new cars can emit, although the proposal has to go through a long negotiation process before becoming law.
Carmakers are working on new technologies to reduce the emissions of conventional-fuelled cars, as well as developing low-carbon cars like electric vehicles and hybrids.
Source: thegreencarwebsite.co.uk, 24/07/2012
