£19m for Midlands as it's named economic area for low carbon vehicles

Louise Bateman

11th February 2010

The Midlands is to become a Low Carbon Economic Area for Advanced Automotive Engineering and is to get £19.5 million of funding to invest in a programme that will accelerate the development and introduction of next generation low carbon vehicles.

Business Secretary Peter Mandelson announced the Midlands is to follow other regions such as the South West and the North East as a Low Carbon Economic Area (LCEA) at the International Manufacturing Centre at the University of Warwick today. He said it would secure the Midlands’ 10,000 existing car industry jobs “by helping transform them into the green car jobs of the future”.

"The LCEA will send a clear signal to the global market about the Midlands’ strengths in advanced automotive engineering,” he said.

Through the LCEA, regional development agencies Advantage West Midlands (AWM) and East Midlands Development Agency (emda) will deliver a programme of projects, partnering with industry and universities, developing low carbon solutions for key technologies such as motors and aerodynamics.

Low Carbon Vehicles Technology programme

Advantage West Midlands, meanwhile, has announced that it is investing £19.5 million in a new Low Carbon Vehicles Technology (LCVT) programme that is estimated will create between 3,000 and 11,500 jobs in the UK by 2020. The programme will fund technological advances in areas such as batteries, motors and aerodynamics and is backed by a number of players in the automotive industry, including Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors, Zytek and Ricardo.

It is hoped the funding and LCEA status will boost the Midlands’ status as the place to do business when looking to develop and produce low carbon vehicles and related technologies. The news follows the announcement earlier this month that the West Midlands has been successful in bidding to be part of Climate-KIC, a unique €750 million (£652 million) European consortium of businesses, universities and regions that aims to create jobs, innovation and enterprise by reshaping Europe’s economy into a low carbon one.

Mick Laverty, chief executive at AWM, said: “This is great news and reflects the real strengths of the West and East Midlands regions in automotive manufacturing.

"Becoming a Low Carbon Economic Area will reinforce our growing reputation as globally competitive regions, which continue to develop cutting-edge green technologies and high technology industries upon which the future prosperity of all UK regions will depend.”

Today’s announcement follows the publication yesterday of the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security’s second report, which called for urgent action on green transport to counter an oil crunch in the next five years.

Today, Ian Dickie, chief executive of the International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies (FISITA), welcomed the funding and the timing of it. “We welcome the £19 million investment by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, unveiled by Lord Mandelson today, into the development of low carbon vehicles. The announcement comes in the wake of yesterday’s ‘Oil Crunch’ report and highlights the urgent need for action on energy by governments, the automotive industry, energy sector and consumer.”

Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, director and founder of WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group), added: “The car industry is facing huge challenges over the next decade. From emissions, the environment to safety engineering, a new generation of hi-tech but low carbon cars will be required. Today’s announcement is a crucial and most welcome Government investment in low carbon automotive engineering, which will help companies meet these global needs and provide them with new opportunities to grow as the world emerges from recession.

Today’s investment means Advantage West Midlands and emda have now committed a combined £50 million to low carbon vehicles initiatives. Among these is the national ultra low carbon vehicle trial, known in the West Midlands as CABLED.