First investments by Advanced Propulsion Centre announced
Wed 23 April 2014
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Four recipients in the first round of investment from the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) have been announced by Business Secretary Vince Cable. Joint government and auto industry funding worth a total of £133 million will be invested in low carbon and improved fuel efficiency powertrain projects.
The investments were announced during a visit by the Secretary of State to Ford's Technical Centre at Dunton, Essex.
Introduced last year, the APC will see government and industry each invest £500 million in the automotive sector over the next 10 years to research, develop and commercialise technologies for the vehicles of the future. It is hoped the initiative will secure up to 30,000 jobs currently linked to producing engines, and also create many more in the supply chain.
Dr Cable said: “The next generation of cars, buses and diggers will be powered by radically different technologies and I want them to be developed here in Britain. Dr Cable also announced that companies can shortly bid for a further £75 million from the APC with the launch of its second competition. The APC will now run bi-annual competitions which open in April and October each year.
The four projects that have been awarded this funding are:
- Ford’s £100 million upgrade of the EcoBoost engine, which will receive a £13.1 million grant.
- Cummins, and a consortium of partners, will receive £4.9 million towards a project to introduce stop/start technology to buses, improving fuel consumption by up to 20%.
- GKN Land Systems and its partners are set to receive £7.5 million as part of a £16 million project to introduce Williams F1 technology into bus powertrains to avoid energy waste.
- JCB and its partner, Flybrid, will also be awarded a £3.3 million grant as part of a project to apply Formula 1 KERS technology in diggers; cutting carbon emissions and improving fuel consumption.
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