Innovative ideas for zero-emission vehicles could benefit from a share of £20 million in funding to help the UK transition towards all new cars and vans being zero-emission by 2035, as the government builds back greener.
The UK government is launching a research and development competition, open to some of the most promising electric vehicle technology innovations. This could include zero-emission emergency vehicles, charging technology or EV battery recycling.
This investment will help ensure the UK remains a world leader in EV design and manufacture, which could create around 6,000 skilled jobs over the next decade, helping us to build back greener. The government has also published its response to the consultation on ending the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans. This cements our commitment to phasing out new vehicles of this kind by 2030, and for all new cars and vans to be zero-emission at the tailpipe by 2035.
The funding announced today will help harness some of the brightest talents in the UK tech industry, encouraging businesses to become global leaders in EV innovation, creating jobs and accelerating us towards our net-zero ambitions.
Among the previous winners is a zero-emission ambulance prototype for London Ambulance Service. Designed by ULEMCo, the ambulance can reach speeds of 90 mph and travel an average of 200 miles a day with zero emissions.
Another successful bidder was tech start-up Urban Foresight, which was given £3 million to develop pop-up chargers that rise up out of the pavement to provide a discreet, safe and low-cost EV charging solution to those without off-street parking.
The Office for Zero-Emission Vehicles funding has really supported Urban Foresight’s growth over the last few years, helping us to collaborate with like-minded organisations and public bodies to bring new and innovative products to market.
Source: UK Government
“We are thrilled to see the level of commitment of ERTICO Partners in delivering actions which lead us towards a zero emissions transport. And it is even more encouraging to see that these actions are cross-sectoral, coming from public authorities, vehicle manufacturers and service provider. The preliminary results of the City Moonshot interviews ERTICO carried out with the 90 cities globally confirm that vehicle electrification is one of the key decarbonisation actions city authorities aim to implement in the coming years”, said Zeljko Jeftic, Innovation & Deployment Deputy Director at ERTICO – ITS Europe.
The ERTICO Partnership has played a leading role in facilitating the development of electro-mobility, for example in the NeMo project which improved EV charging interoperability in Europe, ELVITEN which raised awareness of light EVs through large demonstrations in six cities, and eCharge4Drivers which is supporting uptake of electric vehicles by making charging facilities more user-friendly, all coordinated by ERTICO member ICCS. The SOLUTIONSplus project is building capacity worldwide for EV take-up, particularly aimed at cities, while the ERTICO-coordinated eMI3 platform has developed ICT interoperability standards for EV charging.
