Founded | 2013 |
---|---|
Headquarters | University of Warwick, United Kingdom |
Key people | Ian Constance (CEO) |
Website | www.apcuk.co.uk |
The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) is a non-profit organisation that facilitates funding to UK-based research and development projects developing net-zero emission technologies.[1] It is headquartered at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England.
The APC manages a £1 billion investment fund, which is jointly supplied by the automotive industry – via the Automotive Council – and the UK government through the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and managed by Innovate UK.
The APC was founded in 2013 as a joint venture between the automotive industry and UK government to "research, develop and commercialise technologies for vehicles of the future". Both government and the automotive industry committed to investing £500 million each, totalling £1 billion over a ten year period.[2] The creation of the APC was part of the coalition government's automotive industrial strategy.[3]
In January 2014, Gerhard Schmidt was appointed as Chair and Tony Pixton as Chief Executive.[4] It announced its first round of funding in April 2014, awarding £28.8 million funding to projects worth £133 million, led by Cummins, Ford, GKN and JCB.[5]
The Advanced Propulsion Centre was officially opened by Vince Cable in November 2014.[6]
Ian Constance was appointed Chief Executive in September 2015.[7] In the 2015 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor, George Osborne, announced that an additional £225 million budget for automotive research and development would be facilitated by the APC.[8]
The Advanced Propulsion Centre awards funding to consortia of organizations including vehicle manufacturers, tier 1 automotive suppliers, SMEs and academic institutions, which are developing low carbon powertrain technology.
The APC has several kinds of funding mechanisms available[9]:
Date competition opened | Date funding awarded | Consortium leads | Funding amount |
---|---|---|---|
April 2014 | Ford, Cummins, GKN, JCB | £28.8 million[10] | |
April 2014 | November 2014 | Jaguar Land Rover | £32 million[11] |
November 2014 | March 2015 | Wrightbus, Intelligent Energy, Hofer Powertrain, Perkins Engines | £80 million[12] |
May 2015[13] | January 2016 | The London Taxi Company, Jaguar Land Rover, Morgan Motor Company, AGM Batteries, Parker Hannifin | £75 million[14] |
December 2015[15] | September 2016 | Jaguar Land Rover, McLaren Automotive, Turner Powertrain, Dearman | £84 million[16] |
January 2017 | April 2017 | BMW, New Holland Agriculture, Jaguar Land Rover, Williams Advanced Engineering, Penso Consultin, Ford, Westfield Sportscars | £62 million[17] |
July 2017 | January 2018 | Ford, GKN, Jaguar Land Rover | £26 million[18] |
January 2018[19] | March 2018 | Artemis Intelligent Power, Ceres Power, hofer powertrain | £35 million [20] |
April 2018[21] | June 2018 | Jaguar Land Rover, Sigmatex | £22 million [22] |
August 2018 | October 2018 | Arcola Energy, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover | £25 million [23] |
August 2021 | June 2022 | OX Delivers, Norton | £43.7 million [24] |
The Advanced Propulsion Centre operates a 'hub and spoke' model, where the 'hub' is its headquarters at the University of Warwick, and the 'spokes' are universities across the UK with specialisms in particular areas of net-zero emission vehicle technology.
Spoke locations:[25]
In April 2018, APC announced that an APC-funded project has enabled Ford to develop new low emissions technology, which will go into production on its 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine.[26]
In February 2018, Nissan completed an APC-funded project with Hyperdrive, the Newcastle University, Warwick Manufacturing Group and Zero Carbon futures, to develop a new production process for its 40kWh battery cells. The cells are produced in Sunderland, England, and are fitted to the Nissan Leaf.[27]
In January 2018, Yasa, an electric motor manufacturer based in Oxford, England, opened a new factory to produce 100,000 motors per year, using APC funding. The facility created 150 jobs, with 80% of production expected to be exported.[28]
In September 2017, the Metropolitan Police trialled a fleet of hydrogen-powered Suzuki Burgman scooters, which were developed as part of an APC-funded project.[29]
In January 2017, an APC grant allowed Ford to begin a 12-month pilot of its Transit Custom Plug-in Hybrid in London, England.[30]