Five projects awarded £26.9 million through government DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund

Date: 10 August 2026 

Five innovative automotive projects have been selected to receive £26.9 million in government funding through the DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund competition.

Scale-up Fund is part of the UK Government’s £4 billion DRIVE35 programme, delivered by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) and Innovate UK.

DRIVE35 supports businesses in accelerating the development, commercialisation and manufacture of next-generation zero-emission vehicle technologies. Together, the successful Scale-up Fund projects represent more than £55 million of combined government and industry investment.

Successful companies and their projects include:

• Cornish Lithium Geothermal: Cross Lanes Lithium and Heat from Geothermal Waters Scale-Up (The Cross Lines Project), aims to confirm the potential of geothermal waters in Cornwall to deliver domestic lithium production.
• EMPEL Systems: Vertically Integrated Scale-up of Electric Modules and Power Electronics Manufacturing (EMPOWER), will aim to create scalable UK manufacturing capability for advanced power electronics assembly manufacturing and further vertical integration for electric machines.
• Turntide Technologies: Scale Up Production of Electric Machines (SUPREME), scaling up production of an innovative, water-cooled Axial-Flux motor, achieving cost reductions of 59% to support mass adoption.
• Watercycle Technologies: Recover, Refine, Recharge: Scaling Lithium Extraction from Wastewater for UK Battery Production (ReLiVE). Developing a UK demonstration-scale manufacturing line recovering and refining lithium from waste streams to supply battery-grade materials for zero-emission vehicles.
• Strip Tinning: Cell contact/printed circuit for EV battery packs. Scaling the manufacture of cell contacting systems and flexible printed circuits for electric vehicle battery packs.

Ian Constance, Chief Executive at the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK, said:

The projects announced today demonstrate the depth of innovation and engineering excellence that exists across the UK automotive sector. Through DRIVE35, we are supporting businesses to move promising technologies to commercial deployment and manufacturing at scale.

The Scale-up Fund in particular is helping businesses bridge the gap between innovation and industrial deployment, ensuring promising technologies can be manufactured in the UK while strengthening supply chains and attracting private investment.