Automotive Transformation Fund Scale up Readiness Validation 2

The Automotive Transformation Fund supports the industrialisation at scale of a high-value electrified automotive supply chain in the UK.

The aim of this competition is to support businesses to validate through pilot manufacturing and process development, their commercial viability and readiness to rapidly scale within the automotive sector. We are seeking proposals from single organisations or consortiums with R&D projects validating readiness for scale up of manufacturing processes, through pilot production.

(If you are looking to make a business case in preparation for developing large scale manufacturing, Automotive Transformation Fund Feasibility Studies: Round 4 funding may be more appropriate: this offers grants up to £350k and has the same closing dates.)

These projects must produce physical production samples, of a quantity and quality which supports the case for the commercial viability of scale up in the UK. It may include samples to validate technical qualification.

The resulting projects must support the UK automotive industry in:

• increasing business confidence in making large scale manufacturing investments
• building electrified vehicle supply chains

Eligibility

Your project must:

• have a total grant funding request between £750,000 and £2 million
• start by 1 November 2023
• end by 31 March 2025
• have a minimum duration of 9 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

To lead a project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

There are no restrictions on the number of applications on which an eligible organisation can lead or partner on. Successful applicants will be asked to confirm you have the capacity to run multiple projects simultaneously.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to support businesses to validate through pilot manufacturing and process development, their commercial viability and readiness to rapidly scale within the automotive sector.

The Automotive Transformation Fund will support the industrialisation at scale of a high value automotive supply chain for net zero technologies in the UK.

More information on the Automotive Transformation Fund can be found on the APC website.

Your project must:

• produce physical samples of a quantity and quality which validates the commercial viability of a technology or process for scale up
• be commercialised within the automotive sector, but this does not exclude spill over use in other sectors
• deliver a closeout report and ideally showcase the outputs at a trade show or be presented at a conference, prior to closure and payment of the final claim

APC will fund a portfolio of projects, across the technologies listed in the specific themes section along with a consideration for immediate commercial viability. APC reserve the right to redirect you to another competition if more appropriate.

Scale up Readiness Validation (SuRV) projects can:

• be used to re-engineer existing processes as a route to higher volume or lower carbon intensity
• be used to validate processes, including digital tools, to resolve supply chain issues and encourage onshoring or localisation in support of higher volume
• be used to resolve process or product issues encountered during previous industrialisation projects, funded or otherwise
• support either key individual processes, key steps in manufacturing or a complete end to end to process

This is not an exhaustive list.

Specific themes

Your project must prioritise the scale up in areas mentioned in the Automotive Transformation Fund for an electrified supply chain. Your project must prioritise scale up and can focus on but not be limited to:

Batteries, including cells and gigafactories

• cathode materials and manufacturing
• anode materials and manufacturing
• electrolyte
• cell assembly components, including separators
• module to pack
• cell to pack

Electric 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 cells

• membrane electrode assembly
• fuel cell stack assembly
• storage tanks

Recycling

• batteries
• electric motors and drives,
• power electronics and fuel cells (where there is a move towards circular economy, particularly for critical materials)

Sectors in scope can include the supply chain for on and off-road vehicles, agriculture, heavy duty and mining.

Projects must:

• validate readiness for scale up through pilot production
• present a clear route to scale up and securing market share
• contribute to the UK’s net zero supply chain strategy
• increase business confidence in making large scale manufacturing investments
• support the building of electrified vehicle supply chains

Briefing and support

An online briefing will be held at 10am on Wednesday 5th April 2023: click here to register for a place.

If you would like help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK KTN’s Transport team.