RESEARCH NEWS
Green transport technologies
Amphibious electric buses used in South Africa were among green technologies on show recently at Coventry University ’ s Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering ( AME ) in the UK .
“ Thirteen businesses at the leading edge of efforts to reduce the transport sector ’ s reliance on fossil fuels were chosen to be part of the Clean Futures accelerator programme , which saw them receive up to £ 50,000 to trial their solutions and address challenging areas associated with the rail and automotive manufacturing sectors ,” explained the university .
‘ Clean Futures ’ is led by Connected Places Catapult alongside Coventry University and the Black Country Innovative Manufacturing Organisation . The firms chosen are being supported by Coventry University ’ s Research Centre for Manufacturing and Materials .
“ The incredible ideas and prototypes that were on show at AME included a new way of charging electric motorbikes used by food service outlets and an amphibious tour bus that can go on the road and on water . Seahorse Amphibious Vehicles ( SAV ) currently has one bus in Cape Town , South Africa , and another in Liverpool , with plans to deliver vehicles to Helsinki , Singapore and Glasgow ,” added the university .
SAV Co-Founder , Ed Lumley , added : “ We started off using diesel but , as times have moved on , we ’ ve seen a real gap in the market and a need to become clean and use clean energy . We ’ re now developing an electric vehicle and have been using second-life components , so from things like crashed electric vehicles we ’ ve been taking the batteries and trying to get them to communicate with our own systems .
“ We heard about Clean Futures about eight months ago and that it was the first time that this grant [ had been launched ]. We were awarded the grant and it has been fantastic . It has given us credibility in the market which has allowed us to sell these electric amphibious vehicles — at the start of the project we had no sales but by the end of the project , we had sales for five electric vehicles .”
Another firm to have benefited from the Accelerator is battery pack manufacturer , Aceon , which boasts among its work a collaboration with the Red Cross to help humanitarian efforts in Ukraine .
James Willetts , technical director of Aceon , said : “ There is a Red Cross programme where we ’ re looking at putting these mobile back-up battery packs into Ukraine for running emergency equipment such as insulin fridges or helping if there ’ s a blackout and power is needed . The support from Coventry University has been two-fold as it has helped some of our projects with 3D design as well as testing .”
The net zero approach
Professor Marcos Kauffman , Director of the Research Centre for Manufacturing and Materials and Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering , said : “ The Clean Futures project [ aims to help ] the West Midlands Combined Authority to achieve its 2041 net zero strategy . The combined authority created a road map to 2041 and identified certain areas of critical technologies that will be necessary for us to achieve net zero in our region : industrial emissions , transport emissions and housing emissions .
“ In this programme , we are particularly tackling transport emissions . These 13 SMEs are working in a range of technologies , mostly related to internal combustion transition to electric vehicles . We have battery cell chemistry , battery cell componentry , companies working on clean sustainable fuels , clean sustainable materials and material recovery from recycling of old vehicles ,” he continued .
‘ Clean Futures ’ forms part of a wider regional Innovation Accelerator initiative . The West Midlands Innovation Accelerator is funded through a share of a £ 100m fund from Innovate UK ( divided by three regional Innovation Accelerators ), in delivery until March 2025 . Innovation Accelerator aims include accelerating the region ’ s engineering research and development , boosting inward investment and reinforcing the West Midlands ’ position by enabling businesses to develop new products , processes and services . n
www . coventry . ac . uk
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