ETI’s £40 million Heavy Duty Vehicle Efficiency Programme launched by Government
Fri 23 March 2012
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The Energy Technologies Institute’s (ETI) new £40 million heavy duty vehicle efficiency programme has been officially launched by Business Secretary Vince Cable. The ETI programme is designed to look at both systems integration and technology development across the HDV sector with the aim of increasing the efficiency of land and marine vehicles by up to 30 percent.
The launch was marked by a visit to Caterpillar in Peterlee, the prime contractor in the programme's initial land system integration project.
This initial £3 million project announced by the Business Secretary will involve the design of a range of vehicles and machines to incorporate increased efficiencies. Caterpillar is also the preferred supplier of a later £9 million demonstration phase project.
The technologies developed will be utilised across a portfolio of vehicles which includes HGVs, coaches, buses, tractors, back-hoe loaders, wheeled loaders and articulated quarry trucks. The project will use a Caterpillar 725 Series Articulated Truck during the demonstration phase to verify that the predicted benefits translate into a real world performance.
Vince Cable said: “The creation of this new £40 million programme is welcome news as we move forward in our transition to a low carbon economy and renewed growth. Initiatives like this help underpin the Government’s commitment to developing greener automotive solutions, which so far this year has also been boosted with the introduction of the Plug-In Van Grant and H2 Mobility programme.”
Dr David Clarke, Chief Executive of the ETI added: “HDV’s currently contribute eight percent of the UK’s overall CO2 emissions. Our modelling work believes this can be reduced by up to one third through the development, implementation and vehicle integration of key system and component technologies. This programme is designed to help make that a reality."
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