Farnham-based
Protean Electric, a world-leading developer of in-wheel motors (IWM), has confirmed its consortium has secured a £5.5 million Collaborative Research and Development grant from the
Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC). The funding was announced earlier this week by Sarah Jones, Minister of State at both the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the Department for Business and Trade, during a tour of Protean’s headquarters.
The project, named PULSE (Power electronics Upscale for Localisation and Sustainable Electrification), will be led by Protean and will advance its IWM and, in conjunction with
Unipart Manufacturing, among other consortium members, will deliver a dedicated make-like-production pilot line for power electronics systems used by IWM and other ‘net zero‘ products.
Sarah Jones, Minister of State at both the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the Department for Business and Trade, said: “Labour is committed to boosting the jewel in the crown of our manufacturing base – the automotive industry. Working in partnership with industry this fund will drive innovation and propel the development of next generation zero-emission vehicle technologies.”
Protean Electric CEO Andrew Whitehead said: “We are thrilled that project PULSE has been selected by the APC and the new Government, as it supports Protean to continue to lead electric vehicle innovation from our UK development centre. Protean’s IWMs are a key solution to improve range, user experience and most importantly affordability of EVs.”
‘Net zero’ aspirations Hee continued: “We were delighted to welcome Minister Jones yesterday and would like to thank her for the new Government’s continued commitment towards ‘net zero’, and look forward to engaging further on these topics in the future.”
The project PULSE consortium draws on other UK-based engineering and innovation partners. Unipart will bring decades of advanced manufacturing expertise to create a first-of-its-kind flexible assembly line, that can build a mixture of inverters and converters, including
Viritech’s advanced DC/DC 800V converter.
The collaboration builds on sensor technology from
Transense and recycling processes from
Hypromag, and will further improve efficiency and sustainability through industrialising best-in-class research from
Coventry University and
Warwick Manufacturing Group.