£37m for electric transport R&D

Electrification

The Government has announced £30m for four new centres of excellence to study how to accelerate electrification in transport, including cars, aviation and shipping. 

Newcastle University is the lead partner for the Driving the Electric Revolution (DER) initiative  that isfunded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. DER includes 21 universities and 13 research and technology bodies.

The four centres are: 

• DER Centre North East – CESAM (Centre for Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing) at the International Advanced Manufacturing Park, Sunderland?
• DER Centre Scotland – University of Strathclyde – located in NMIS (The National Manufacturing Institute Scotland) and PNDC (Power Networks Demonstration Centre) 
• DER Centre Midlands – distributed facilities, with a focus on the Power Electronics & Machines Centre at the Jubilee Campus, University of Nottingham?
• DER Centre South Wales & South West – distributed facilities, coordinated by the Compound Semiconductor Application Catapult Innovation Centre, Newport 

The Government has also awarded £6.7m to 14 projects through the DER challenge. These projects, involving 38 firms, will boost supply chain efficiencies in industries affected by electrification, such as aerospace, automotive, energy and rail. Participants include GKN, Jaguar Land Rover and Rolls-Royce.