- 100 ultra low carbon demonstration vehicles to be on roads by end of 2009
- £10m demonstration will show benefits of new and emerging low carbon technology in real-world situations.
- Electrification of road transport, decarbonisation of road vehicles and academic-led research into new low carbon vehicle technology to receive £20 million funding boost
The Technology Strategy Board has unveiled details of a £10 million investment plan, co-funded by the Department for Transport, which aims to see up to 100 innovative ultra low carbon demonstration vehicles on Britain’s roads by the end of next year. This is one of the initiatives announced by the Government to encourage a mass market in electric and hybrid cars.
The ultra low carbon vehicle demonstration competition will see the 100 innovative cars on the road in several locations around the UK and, through real-world situations, will show the benefits to be gained by using new and emerging low carbon vehicle technology.
Commenting on the eve of the UK National Low Carbon Vehicle Event at Millbrook, Bedford in October, hosted by Cenex (the UK’s Centre of Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies), the Technology Strategy Board’s Chief Executive, Iain Gray, said:
“Low carbon vehicle technology is exciting, practical and, most importantly, real. Such vehicles are already on our roads and as the technology continues to improve rapidly, they will only become more effective and more widely used.
“Low carbon vehicles offer the combined advantages of reducing our reliance on oil and reducing emissions. The challenge now is to speed up development of this technology while delivering the benefits to UK business - which is why the Technology Strategy Board is delighted to announce a further £30m of investment in the research, development and demonstration of electric and low carbon vehicles.”
The demonstrator and research & development competitions are the latest initiatives from the Technology Strategy Board’s Low Carbon Vehicle Innovation Platform. The three further research and development activities will cover:
- Electrification of road transport (up to £10 million)
- Technologies to decarbonise road vehicles (approx £7 million)
- University-led research into lower-carbon vehicle technology (£3 million), funded by the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The Technology Strategy Board will also work closely with the Energy Technologies Institute, which will hold a stakeholder workshop in December to develop a second wave of low carbon vehicle demonstration activity. This builds on the Technology Strategy Board’s early pilots and will focus on understanding the requirements of the charging infrastructure.
