In 2023 the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) announced an £18.7 million investment in 10 fast-start projects aimed at rapidly developing automotive products with a clear route to market. With £9 million in government support delivered through the APC and matched by industry funding, successful applicants have been working on their projects to demonstrate a product, system or vehicle within 12 months. 

As the project timeline comes to a close, the 10 projects will be featured on the Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator (ARMD) stand adjacent to the UK Government Pavilion at Cenex Expo 2024.

A wide range of UK-based SMEs and multinationals at the cutting edge of vehicle innovation benefitted from the second round of the Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator competition (ARMD2), including: the development of electric first responder motorcycles for the emergency services, electric delivery vans, fuel-cell technology, electric drives, and motors, as well as tractors and composite materials.

CEO Ian Constance said,

“The Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator competition is a distinct ambitious offering from the APC as it sees the development of new, tangible products in a short period of time. The successful applicants all had fantastic proposals. We are excited to see the fruits of this £18.7 million investment from both industry and government. Given the success of the previous round, the projects displayed at Cenex Expo will be ones to keep an eye on.”

In detail, the projects who will be showcasing their innovative technologies are:

Involution Technologies: Demonstration of an EDU/TCU suitable for application to any heavy on/off-highway commercial vehicle

·    Demonstrating an innovative electric drive unit (EDU) suitable to drive any large on/off-highway commercial, construction or agricultural vehicle.

Prodrive Engineering: EVOLV

·    Design and build of a demonstrator of a light category EV zero-emission ‘last mile’ delivery vehicle.

White Motorcycle Concepts: Electric first responder motorcycle (WMC300E+)

·    Evolving its operational emergency services hybrid motorcycle, aiming to deliver a fully operational, full-scale, rapid-charge first responder electric demonstrator motorcycle. 

JLR: SOCA - Sustainably Optimised Composite Automotive

·    Aiming to decarbonise the manufacturing of composite components for automotive applications through the combination of innovative technology and material.

Parker Hannifin: Novel fuel-cell humidification system for zero-emission heavy duty vehicle applications

·    Utilising proprietary hollowfibre membrane technology to develop a novel humidifier, maximising fuel cell performance and operational life.

Viritech: Project ICEBreaker

·    Development and testing a novel fuel cell powertrain for Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV) offering higher efficiency and lighter weight.

Wrightbus: CoacH2 – Next-generation hydrogen fuel-cell coach powertrain demonstrator

·    Accelerating the development of zero-emission hydrogen fuel-cell electric coaches, with a full on-vehicle technology demonstrator.

Maeving: New powertrain for removable battery electric motorcycle

·    Development of a new powertrain to drive two new lightweight removable battery electric motorcycles. 

Protean Electric: Olympus 

·    Development of lightweight and novel in-wheel motors (IWM) to accelerate the adoption of IWM by OEMs, through improving the state-of-the-art IWM technologies and meeting the advanced requirements of leading OEMs.

Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains: HPP solid state battery concept

·    An innovative solid-state battery solution capable of meeting the unique requirements of solid-state cells.