Automotive Transformation Fund Scale-up Readiness Validation (SuRV)
£25 million investment
22 projects, comprising 35 UK-based companies and research organisations, received up to £2 million each through our Scale-up Readiness Validation (SuRV) competition.
Batteries
A project to install a larger scale manufacturing facility in the UK, supporting the advanced silicon anode material volumes needed for battery cells in the UK automotive industry.
Avocet Battery Materials Limited
The project will help establish a localised supply-chain of critical battery components in the UK and wider European Li-ion battery industry.
Reaction Engines’ technology improves thermal management and safety of battery cells and packs. This project will prove out volume production of its HxLife Foils battery thermal management technology through a dedicated pilot line.
Ilika is developing an automotive solid state battery cell alongside a scalable process for manufacturing. To further de-risk its industrialisation plan, the project will enable Ilika to work with UK-based supply chain to validate its scale-up activities by conducting trials using representative volume manufacturing equipment.
Nyobolt and Koura are partnering to scale and validate the purification and finishing of fast charging battery materials. This aims to reduce vehicle charging times to just minutes and develop UK supply chain capability.
MegaPower: High power cell development for AMTE’s Megafactory.
Battery Critical Materials
Research By British Lithium Limited
British Lithium is developing an integrated hard rock quarry, beneficiation plant and lithium refinery producing 20,800 tpa of battery-grade lithium carbonate. This project will partly-fund the readiness assessment and validate the pilot plant whilst making commercial samples for end customers.
The SuRV grant will be used to construct the hydrometallurgical section of a demonstration scale processing plant at the Trelavour Lithium Project in Cornwall. The plant will produce samples of battery grade lithium hydroxide for evaluation by battery producers and automotive OEMs.
Recycling
Producing production samples of cathode metals for testing by Imperial College, to support the case for a commercial plant recycling battery waste from 20,000 electric vehicles.
Fuel Cells
This project will bring a key hydrogen barrier containment technology closer to market, by funding the installation of an electroforming pilot line for the manufacture of thin, lightweight metallic liners for pressurised hydrogen storage vessels.
Bramble Energy will develop a semi-automated pilot-scale assembly line for fuel cell stacks. This will demonstrate the simplified and low-cost manufacturing route and assembly process of Bramble’s trademarked printed circuit board fuel cell and the roadmap to scale up manufacturing in the UK.
Project partners will produce a series of fully functional air compressor prototypes for commercial vehicle hydrogen fuel cell applications, with a clear roadmap toward high-volume production.
This project will assess the feasibility of manufacturing a fuel cell range extender at scale. It builds on work by Adelan to establish UK fuel cell manufacturing using Midlands partners for component manufacture and assembly. It will create automated solutions to support UK suppliers to manufacture at volume to achieve economies of scale.
The project will produce innovative, high performing, cost effective, and light weight hydrogen storage solutions, with improved environmental credentials. This will be achieved through collaborative research combining the use of newly formed datasets and simulation software. The novel manufacturing method developed will allow bespoke storage solutions and enable rapid commercialisation.
Motors and Drives
Electrified Automation Limited
This project will demonstrate scalability of innovative manufacturing processes for radial flux concentrated wound electric motors.
The project is designed to help develop the UK supply chain into the volume manufacture of high precision gear and transmission components cost effectively.
Saietta will on-shore and scale-up the production of heavy-duty e-drive products in Sunderland – investing in people; prototypes; processes and equipment to deliver and commission a Pilot Line.
In advance of full-scale volume production of its Pareta high performance electric powertrain, this project will enable Deregallera (DG Innovate) to establish a pilot production line to prove scalable viability. The facility will be capable of low / medium volume production and will deliver a quantity of powertrains for validation.
Motor Critical Materials
Commercialising rare earth separation and refining technology, developed at Queens University Belfast. The innovative technology is being applied to magnet recycling for the chemical extraction of rare earths from spent magnets, refined to high purity oxides for making new environmentally-friendly magnets for EVs and wind turbines.
Power Electronics
Magnetic Systems Technology Limited
Securing this SuRV funding allows Magtec to industrialise its controller systems using automation best practices, redesigning products and developing supply-chains for volume manufacture. This will result in the ability to demonstrate next-generation controller production through a pilot-line, de-risk production and secure further investment to support growing demand.
This project brings together expertise in power electronics, power modules and packaging with SGA, CIL and MTC working together to create a UK source of advanced ceramic heat dissipative substrates. The latest laser manufacturing methods are used, designed for the electric vehicle market, providing security of supply in the UK.
Cell contacting and management system (CCMS) is an integral part of the power electronics in electric vehicles, monitoring the performance and safety of batteries. This project facilitates scale-up to support collaborations with OEM clients, intended for new BEV models in the next 2-5 years.