The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) is a

non-profit organisation A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that facilitates funding to UK-based research and development projects developing net-zero emission technologies. It is headquartered at the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, England. The APC manages a £1 billion investment fund, which is jointly supplied by the

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industry ...

– via the Automotive Council – and the

UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

through the

Department for Business and Trade The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is a department of His Majesty's Government established on 7 February 2023, after a government reshuffle, the first by prime minister Rishi Sunak. The new department absorbed the functions of the f ...

(DBT) and managed by

Innovate UK Innovate UK is the United Kingdom's innovation agency, which provides money and support to organisations to make new products and services. It is a non-departmental public body operating at arm's length from the Government as part of the United ...

History

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. The creation of the APC was part of the

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

's automotive industrial strategy. In January 2014, Gerhard Schmidt was appointed as Chair and Tony Pixton as Chief Executive. It announced its first round of funding in April 2014, awarding £28.8 million funding to projects worth £133 million, led by

Cummins Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes engines, filtration, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipment, including fuel systems, controls, air ...

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

GKN GKN Ltd is a British multinational automotive and aerospace components business headquartered in Redditch, England. It is a long-running business known for many decades as Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds. It can trace its origins back to 1759 an ...

and JCB. The Advanced Propulsion Centre was officially opened by

Vince Cable Sir John Vincent Cable (born 9 May 1943) is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. He also served in the Cabinet a ...

in November 2014. Ian Constance was appointed Chief Executive in September 2015. In the 2015

Autumn Statement The Spring Statement of the British Government, also known as the "mini-budget", is one of the two statements HM Treasury makes each year to Parliament upon publication of economic forecasts, the second taking place the previous year as the Autum ...

, the

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born Gideon Oliver Osborne; 23 May 1971) is a former British politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the ...

, announced that an additional £225 million budget for automotive research and development would be facilitated by the APC.

Funding competitions

The Advanced Propulsion Centre awards funding to consortia of organizations including vehicle manufacturers, tier 1 automotive suppliers,

SMEs Superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) systems store energy in the magnetic field created by the flow of direct current in a Superconductivity, superconducting coil which has been Cryogenics, cryogenically cooled to a temperature below ...

and academic institutions, which are developing low carbon powertrain technology.

Spokes

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: *

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

- Newcastle upon Tyne, England – Electric Machines *

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

– Nottingham, England – Power Electronics *

– Coventry, England – Electrical Energy Storage *

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

– Bath, England – TPS System Efficiency *

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

– London, England �
Institute of Digital Engineering
*

University of Brighton The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieve ...

– Brighton, England – TPS Thermal Efficiency

Activities

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 EcoBoost is a series of turbocharged, direct-injection gasoline engines produced by Ford and originally co-developed by FEV Inc. (now named FEV North America Inc.). EcoBoost engines are designed to deliver power and torque consistent with thos ...

engine. In February 2018,

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

completed an APC-funded project with Hyperdrive, the Newcastle University,

Warwick Manufacturing Group WMG, University of Warwick (formerly Warwick Manufacturing Group), is a UK-based research and education group combining collaborative research and development with education programmes working in applied science, technology and engineering. An ...

and Zero Carbon futures, to develop a new production process for its 40kWh battery cells. The cells are produced in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, England, and are fitted to the

Nissan Leaf The , stylized as LEAF, is a Compact car, compact five-door hatchback battery electric vehicle, battery electric vehicle (BEV) manufactured by Nissan. It was introduced in Japan and the United States in December 2010, and its second generation w ...

. In January 2018,

Yasa Yasa was a bhikkhu during the time of Gautama Buddha. He was the sixth bhikkhu in the Buddha's sangha and was the sixth to achieve arahanthood. Yasa lived in the 6th century BCE in what is now Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in northern India. Yasa wa ...

, an electric motor manufacturer based in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, 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. In September 2017, the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

trialled a fleet of hydrogen-powered

Suzuki Burgman The Burgman series of Scooter (motorcycle), scooters (known in Japan as Skywave) is produced by Suzuki with engine capacities from 125 cc up to 638 cc. AN series Launched in 1998, the original model line-up consisted of the AN250 and A ...

scooters, which were developed as part of an APC-funded project. In January 2017, an APC grant allowed Ford to begin a 12-month pilot of its Transit Custom Plug-in Hybrid in London, England.Ford begins testing Transit Plug-in Hybrids in London ahead of 2019 production
TechCrunch. Retrieved 29 May 2018.

References

External links