Prodrive Advanced Technology is proud to be one of twelve recipients to receive a share of a £22.7 million investment in ‘fast-start projects for the accelerated development of automotive products with a potential route to market’. This award share is the result of Prodrive’s successful submission of its EVOLV project into the 2023 Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator competition (ARMD2) from the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK1.
With £11 million in Government support through the APC matched by industry funding in total, Prodrive’s Advanced Technology division, in collaboration with Astheimer Design, will now complete and deliver its EVOLV vehicle concept within 12 months. Prodrive must be ready to launch the demonstrator of its L7e category EV Zero Emission ‘Last Mile’ Delivery vehicle at the 2024 Cenex Low Carbon Vehicle (LCV) show next September.
The EVOLV Last Mile vehicle platform demonstrator (image above) will provide a cubic load capacity comparable to N1 category vehicles in an L7 package. This enables the platform to leverage sales from both L7 and N1 markets, offering a strong total cost of ownership proposition to fleet operators. Further details of the EVOLV project will be announced in 2024.
Dr Iain Roche, CEO Prodrive Advanced Technology commented: “We are delighted to receive this funding from the APC to accelerate the development of our EVOLV Last Mile vehicle concept that offers a zero emission L7e platform with a market disrupting total cost of ownership proposition.”
Ian Constance, CEO APC said: “The Advanced Route to Market Demonstrator competition is a distinct offering from the APC as it sees the development of a new, tangible product in such a short period of time. The successful applicants all have fantastic proposals that now have the green flag to kick-start. In just 12 months we will see the fruits of this £22.7 million investment from both industry and Government. Given the success of the previous round, the dozen projects we’ve funded today will be ones to keep an eye on when they are delivered next year.”
Nusrat Ghani, Minister for Industry and Economic Security concludes: “The UK automotive sector is at the cutting edge of exploiting innovative technologies. These have the potential to create jobs, grow the economy and accelerate how we reach net-zero. This package of funding will help industry and government work together and take decisive action in targeting areas where the UK is leading the way. This government has shown time and time again that we are committed to creating the right conditions to make the UK the best location in the world to manufacture.”