Ford ACTIVE – lower emissions with EcoBoost
In April 2014, the APC awarded a £13.1 million grant to a consortium led by Ford, to upgrade the award winning EcoBoost engine. The project is called ACTIVE (Advanced Combustion Turbocharged Inline Variable Valvetrain Engine). ACTIVE is one of the first four winning projects in the initial APC grant funding competition alongside consortia led by GKN, Cummins and JCB. The APC grant funding is made available to the winners of bi-annual competitions for projects which are collaborative, business-led and typically where the eligible project costs are in the range of £5m to £40m. Consortia can apply for grant funding at different proportions of total cost depending on the organisation profile and classification of R&D.
Ford and their partners received APC funding for their £26 million programme to develop a suite of technologies to further improve the already class-leading 1L EcoBoost engine. This is a UK centred project focused on the engineering skills needed to develop and apply these technologies. It involves Tier 1 suppliers and leading automotive research universities. It aims to increase the UK’s capabilities in this area and will further strengthen Ford UK engineering as the ‘Centre of Powertrain Excellence’ within the company. A key aspect is to engage with the UK supply chain offering opportunities for UK-based component and equipment suppliers. It will also increase capabilities within the UK’s universities.
The project consortia consists of Ford, Cambustion Ltd, Continental Automotive Trading UK Ltd, Lubricants UK Ltd, Loughborough University, Raicam Clutch Ltd, Unipart Eberspacher Exhaust Systems Ltd, University of Bath, University of Bradford, University of Nottingham.
To date, the APC has invested in 10 major low carbon propulsion projects worth more than £174 million which will secure or create more than 4,500 jobs in the UK and reduce CO2 emissions by more than 12 million tonnes, equivalent to the CO2 emissions from 630,000 new cars, every year, for the next 12 years.
The fourth APC funding competition (APC4) offering collaborative consortia the opportunity to have access to APC resources closed on 1st July 2015 and the results will be announced in Autumn 2015. The next funding competition (APC5) will open before the end of 2015, but urgent applications can be considered through an ‘exceptional process’ – you can contact us here for more information.