The UK government has announced around £88 million of funding to be dispensed between 20 “cutting-edge” net zero tech projects.

The funding has been awarded through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK in support of government ambitions to build an end-to-end supply chain for zero emission vehicles in the UK.

£45.2 million of the investment comes from the government and £42.7 million from the automotive industry.

The 20 projects awarded funding are spread across four competitions and include developers of new offroad vehicles, net zero tractors and new EV battery systems.

“From net zero tractors to cutting-edge battery projects, we’re taking decisive action to back the UK’s innovators and ensure we remain at the forefront of zero emission vehicle technology,” said minister for industry and economic security Nusrat Ghani.

The government announcement added that the funding package includes four collaborative research and development projects, five scale-up projects to assess if businesses in the automotive sector are ready for growth, and seven feasibility studies to prepare projects to develop large-scale manufacturing facilities in the UK.

Winners of the latest collaborative R&D competition funding include Aston Martin, which is accelerating the development of a luxury battery electric vehicle platform and Perkins, which will develop a net-zero, hydrogen-hybrid integrated power system for offroad vehicles.

These projects are estimated to create or safeguard more than 4,700 jobs in total and save nearly 65 million tonnes of CO2 being emitted over the next decade as a result of the work undertaken by these four R&D projects alone.

APC chief executive Ian Constance commented that the projects would further add to its portfolio of “innovative” projects and “continue to drive the UK to deliver on its net zero ambition.”

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