Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform

What is an Innovation Platform?

Innovation Platforms are designed to address major society and public policy challenges and where a government department is taking specific action through policy, regulation, procurement or financial measures to tackle the problem.

What will the Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform do?

There are more than 35 million vehicles on the UK’s roads. This is approx 6 million more than in 2000. Road vehicles are becoming more efficient, but carbon dioxide emissions from transport are still increasing, as we add more vehicles and travel further.

We need to dramatically improve the carbon emissions of road based vehicles and operate the transport system better.

The Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform aims to maximise the benefit to UK-based businesses of the rapidly-developing low carbon vehicles market, and to help accelerate the adoption of low carbon vehicles in the UK.

The growing pressure from customers and regulators for more environmentally friendly vehicles is creating new business opportunities for both the established industry and innovative new entrants.

See story and video on LWEC website.

Objectives

• Increase and accelerate the introduction of vehicle-centric UK developed technologies and products offered to the low carbon vehicles market
• Contribute to the growth of the UK automotive sector
• Support the UK’s contribution to the achievement of national and international green house gas reduction targets, by reducing carbon dioxide from road transport both domestically and internationally

Key activities:

1. The Low Carbon Vehicles Integrated Delivery Programme

The Integrated Delivery Programme is a £200m investment, jointly funded by Government and business that will help to speed up the introduction of new low carbon vehicles onto Britain's roads.

2. The Ultra Low Carbon Vehicle Demonstrator

Over £25m has been invested in an ultra low carbon vehicle demonstration competition.

The ultra low carbon vehicle demonstration competition aims to see up to over 250 new innovative cars on the road in several locations around the UK by the end of 2009 and recognises the considerable value of demonstrating new and emerging low carbon vehicle technology in real world situations. 

Update 5 December 2010

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest a further £9 million to support innovations in low carbon vehicle technology and is inviting applications for funding of new collaborative research and development projects and feasibility studies.

Through the collaborative research and development competition, which opens on 7 March 2011, the Technology Strategy Board is looking to invest in highly innovative, industry-led collaborative projects aimed at achieving significant cuts in carbon dioxide for technologies for low carbon vehicles.

For more information see http://www.innovateuk.org/content/competition/highly-innovative-strategi...

Currently there are:

• 72 live projects
• around £100m of grant funding, generating around £250m of project value
• More than £51m in co-funding from DfT / OLEV, EPSRC, SEEDA, ONE NE, AWM, INI
• around 200 individual industry and academic partners

Who will benefit?

Business

• UK-based businesses will benefit from the rapidly-developing low carbon vehicles market

Society

• will be able to drive new low-carbon vehicles on the road.

PROGRAMME FACTS AND FIGURES

Start and end dates: September 2007 to September 2012

Organisations involved:

The Low Carbon Vehicles Innovation Platform invests jointly with the industry and Government partners.

The regional development agencies Advantage West Midlands and One North East, have agreed to invest in the programme.

Further support will be sought from other regional development agencies and the devolved administrations.

Website: Low Carbon Vehicles