New collaborative R&D projects unveiled  

Date: 09 April 2026

The Advanced Propulsion Centre UK has announced that five late-stage, collaborative R&D projects will share over £84 million of total investment to accelerate their journey to commercialisation. 

This includes over £42 million in grant support from the Department for Business and Trade’s DRIVE35 Collaborate programme, delivered in partnership with the APC and Innovate UK, and matched by industry funding. 

Collaborate is a consortium-based competition, with a lead partner and other businesses, to receive match-funding of between £2.5 million and £25 million. 

The projects in this latest round include: technological advancements for electric vehicle architectures, electric motorcycle powertrains, rare-earth recycling, and advanced power electronics. 

The projects and companies involved are:  

ASTech  

Jaguar Land Rover, Arm, Codethink  

Developing technologies for next-generation electric vehicle architectures. 

GCE-ELM 

ELM Mobility, Carsten Astheimer, Cenex, Electrified Automation, Nyobolt, Prodrive Automotive Technology, Toyota Motor Manufacturing 

Developing a game-changing last-mile delivery vehicle that reduces logistics costs, emissions, and urban congestion through purposeful, efficient design. 

Project FlashDrive 

Maeving, Muon Tech, Nyobolt, University of Warwick  

Developing an advanced electric motorcycle powertrain that enables rapid charging, extended usability, and zero-emission performance. 

REACT-UK 

Hypromag, European Metal Recycling, Jaguar Land Rover, Less Common Metals, Mkango Rare Earths UK, University of Birmingham 

Aiming to deliver a full circular economy for rare earth NdFeB magnets in the UK from the automotive sector. 

SUITE 

Nissan Motor Manufacturing, 5G3I, Newcastle University, Oxford Photovoltaics, RAM Innovations, Ricardo UK, University College London, University of Bristol, University of Nottingham, University of Oxford 

Designing cutting-edge solar panels for vehicles to improve EV efficiency and range. 

To learn more about the fund and express an interest in applying for future rounds of funding, click here.