Automotive Transformation Fund expression of interest: November 2020

The Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) is a new programme that aims to establish a competitive and sustainable UK supply chain.

It offers a share of up to £1 billion of funding for industrial research and capital investment projects. This will be to support the industrialisation of a high-value, electrified automotive supply at scale in the UK.

This is an expression of interest (EoI) competition. If your application is successful you will be invited to apply to one of the full stage competition strands when they are published:

1. Research and development (R&D).
2. Capital investment.

If your project includes both R&D and capital investment you will have to apply for both full stage competitions.

ATF reserves the right to prioritise certain successful applications following assessment that are deemed of national importance to the UK’s automotive sector. These applications may be directed to an open exceptional Regional Growth Fund (RGF) process outside of the normal full stage competitions.

Your total eligible project costs and project duration must be appropriate and in proportion to the planned objectives and prioritisation within the Automotive Transformation Fund.

To discuss if your project falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must contact the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) directly at ATF@apcuk.co.uk at least 10 days before the competition closes. APC will decide whether to approve your request.

Lead organisation

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
• address the requirements of the Automotive Transformation Fund

Project team

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must:

• be a UK registered business, academic institution, charity, 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
• be invited by the lead organisation

This is an expression of interest (EoI) competition. You must have a successful application in this competition before you can be invited to apply to the full stage competition.

Your project must have an automotive application.

You can submit more than one application. Each application can focus on research and development (R&D) and/or capital investment.

Your proposal must prioritise the scale up in areas mentioned in the Automotive Transformation Strategy. This includes but is not limited to:

• batteries
• motors and drives
• power electronics
• fuel cell
• recycling of any of the above

Your project can focus on one or more of the following:

Batteries

• cathode materials and manufacturing
• anode materials and manufacturing
• electrolyte
• cell assembly components (including separators)
• cell or module assembly
• cell testing
• battery pack components
• battery pack assembly and test

Motors and drives

• magnet materials and manufacturing
• electrical steel materials and manufacturing
• electrical machine assembly
• drive line components
• assembly and test into complete drive unit

Power electronics

• wide band gap semi-conductors
• sensors
• passives
• power electronics assembly

Fuel cell

• MEA
• catalysts
• bipolar plates
• gas diffusion layer
• air handling systems
• balance of power
• fuel cell stack assembly
• storage tanks
• fuel delivery (where specifically required for development purposes)

Recycling

• e-motors
• batteries
• fuel cells
• power electronics

The Automotive Transformation Fund provides detailed information on the specific themes of this competition.

If you want help to find a project partner, contact the Knowledge Transfer Network’s transport team.