UK Launches £10 Million Prize for Battery Innovation Competition

The British Government Has Launched a £10 Million Prize for Battery Design Innovation Intended for the ULEV Next Generation. The competition will open for bids in April, 2015 with a winner to be announced in the summer.

In announcing the prize, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said that the challenge with this competition is to draw on the world-class scientific research of the UK and eventually develop a battery which will be commercially viable at the cutting edge of innovation and ready to be put into mass production.

This competition will be open to all research establishments in the UK which are working together with car manufacturers based in Britain. Quentin Willson, a Transport Campaigner who has been one of the officials involved in the designing of the £10 million prize, said that Britain should lead the world in cutting-edge ULEV battery technology.

Willson said this initiative of the British government will definitely help in the creation of jobs and establish a whole new industry as well as boosting the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). “I totally support this £10 million prize for the best in Britain battery innovation,” Willson added.

This competition in April, this year is expected to lead in the development of a battery pack which is commercially-viable for electric cars. Then the UK government’s £10-million prize at stake towards the needed innovation in battery design will become the historic seed money to fund a new battery pack which is high-voltage for the next generation of ULEVs.

This undertaking has been seen as humanity’s one of the greatest hopes in saving our mother Earth from further environmental degradation and devastating effects of climate change. This is actually timely as the British government is currently investing £500 million to accelerate uptake of electric cars.

To further boost this laudable government initiative, there are supportive business establishments in Britain which are launching mobile electric vehicle charging units.

Tasked to run the competition is “Innovate UK” which will award the £10 million prize to a “Consortium of Organisations.” This group is expected to include a research organisation and at least one vehicle manufacturer as well as experts in battery controls, software and electronics.

As this developed, most new electric vehicles have already the range of around 100 miles per hour (mph). To increase this range will definitely boost the market or salability of ULEVs. Records could show that sales of plug-in vehicles have increased from around 3,585 in the year 2013 to 14,497 in 2014.

Currently, there are around 20 plug-in models available in the market. In 2011, there were only six models of this type. Each of these current models which has made into the UK’s 10 best-selling brands is now having a ULEV in its range.

So, the government now aims that by the year 2040, ULEVs will account for every new vehicle on the road. In this connection, the British government will be investing £500 million from the year 2015 to 2020 aimed at boosting the ULEV industry in order to even go further ahead and help drivers afford it and feel confident in using ULEVs.

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