More funding for low carbon vehicles An additional £10mn of grant funding is to ...

More funding for low carbon vehicles An additional £10mn of grant funding is to be made available to research, develop and demonstrate technologies to achieve significant cuts in carbon emissions from road transport, following a government decision to provide supplementary finance through the Technology Strategy Board. In October, Business Secretary Vince Cable announced that the government planned to invest a further £15mn in projects to accelerate the commercialisation of low carbon vehicles, through a competition for grant funding to be managed by the Technology Strategy Board. The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) is to provide additional grant funding and £25 million will now be available to UK businesses. The aim of the Low Carbon Vehicles: The road to market funding competition is to strengthen UK capability by encouraging a reduction of costs in the supply base and a faster adoption of new technologies on UK roads, with a focus on pulling technology through the various stages of the innovation chain. Consortia applying for this funding will need to demonstrate that their project has the potential to build on the UK’s existing capabilities, give the UK a global competitive advantage and bring economic benefit to the country. Grants for each project are likely to range from £0.5mn up to in excess of £5mn. The competition opens on 20 February 2012 and expressions of interest must be submitted by 28 March 2012. www.tsb.gov.uk