Transitioning towards Zero Emission Vehicles: feasibility studies

UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £7million to develop on-vehicle solutions that address challenges associated with the transition to zero emission vehicles.

Opportunity Details

When

Registration Opens

15/03/2021

Registration Closes

21/04/2021

Award

Your project’s total eligible costs must be between £300,000 and £600,000. Up to 70% of costs can be covered.

Organisation

OZEV

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The aim of this competition is to fund on-vehicle innovative solutions that support the transition to zero emission vehicles in line with the Government’s transport decarbonisation ambitions.

In this competition, we are looking for solutions that address one or more of the following challenges:

  • improve ZEV range capability
  • increase adoption of small commercial ZEVs
  • support transition to zero emission for special use vehicles
  • improve ZEV user experience
  • improve sustainability of ZEVs

Projects which address these challenges can use new, highly innovative solutions or advance an existing innovation or R&D project.

We are seeking to support both the feasibility and the development of the proposed solutions in 2 competition strands:

  1. feasibility studies (this strand)
  2. collaborative research and development projects

A parallel competition hosted on the Innovation Funding Service will address the challenges associated with infrastructure solutions for zero emission vehicles.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure they apply for the correct competition.

Your project must:

  • have total eligible costs between £300,000 and £600,000
  • start by 1 Aug 2021
  • end by 31 March 2022
  • last up to 8 months

To lead a project or work alone your organisation must:

  • be a UK registered business of any size
  • carry out its project work in the UK
  • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must:

  • be a UK registered business, academic institution, charity, not-for-profit, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO)
  • carry out its project work in the UK
  • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

Academic institutions must have their research team ready to start at the beginning of the project.

The maximum number of organisations allowed in a consortium in this competition is 3, including the lead. This maximum number includes non-grant claiming partners, but not subcontractors.

Your project must offer a solution that addresses one or more of the challenges associated with increasing the uptake in zero emission vehicles (ZEVs), including:

  • improve ZEV range capability
  • increase adoption of small commercial ZEVs
  • support transition to zero emission for special use vehicles
  • improve ZEV user experience
  • improve sustainability of ZEV

Technology transfer projects from other transport or energy sectors are welcome.

Projects can cover both niche and mainstream on-road vehicles under 3.5tonnes in categories L (mopeds and motorcycles only), M (passenger) and N (goods). Special usevehicles such as emergency vehicles (e.g. ambulances and fire engines), refuse collection vehicles, and recreational vehicles (e.g. motorhomes) will also be in scope.

If you are unsure whether your vehicle is included in the special use vehicles category, please contact support@innovateuk.ukri.org with a description of the vehicle.

At the end of the feasibility study, your project must be:

  • ready to continue in future R&D competitions or
  • able to raise private sector investment to take the project outcome to market

We want to fund a portfolio of projects, across a variety of technologies, markets, technological maturities. OZEV and Innovate UK reserve the right to prioritise projects within specific themes where necessary.

Your application must focus on at least one of the following challenges.

You must clearly identify the primary challenge for assessment purposes. Your solution can cover several challenges but will be assessed against the primary challenge selected.

Challenge 1 – Improve ZEV range capability Advances in zero emission on-vehicle technologies to improve EV range anxiety by enabling increased vehicle range, efficiency or capability.

Challenge 2 – Increase adoption of small commercial ZEVs Tackling on vehicle technological challenges associated with under 3.5 tonne commercial vehicles, including fleets, to improve operational performance or total cost of ownership.

Challenge 3 – Support transition to zero emission for special use vehicles
Technological solutions for special use vehicles, such as emergency vehicles, which are technically challenging but need to make the transition to zero.

Challenge 4 – Improve ZEV user experience Technologies which improve ZEV user experience by for example improving mobility, road-side recovery or their use in a recreational setting.

Challenge 5 – Improve sustainability of ZEVs Solutions that enable battery recycling facilities.

An online briefing event was held at 10am on Friday 12th March: the recording will appear here when available.

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