Wearside is to get Europe’s first low carbon vehicle research and development centre.
Production of the Nissan Leaf has begun on Wearside
Work on the Future Technology Centre site has already started and the 10 acre complex is expected to be open for business by the middle of next year. The project — whose motto is “Inspiration for Innovation” — will be jointly financed and managed by Gateshead College, which already has an automotive design and engineering campus, and Zero Carbon Futures, a technology company set up by the college in 2011.
Scientists and students at the hi-tech facility are expected to explore all ecologically friendly technologies as well as low carbon vehicle design and production, reinforcing Britain’s claim to be at the forefront of developing and implementing green sciences. The Government has already pledged £75m to help businesses and engine design projects focus on low emission vehicles.
Dr Colin Herron managing director of Zero Carbon Futures. “The Future Technology Centre is the first of its kind in Europe and will become a real demonstrator of e-mobility technologies,” he said.
“It will bring together a research and development centre, a testing laboratory, proximity to the UK’s only electric vehicle performance test track, together with office and incubator space to develop a low carbon community that promotes knowledge transfer and project collaboration.”
Having the research, development and testing centre all on the same site its a real boom for low carbon technologies. “It will allow us to make breakthrough developments that can be implemented not just in electric vehicles but, in future, throughout the homes and business premises,” he said.
Zero Carbon Futures is already working on a project with tadea UK, a local authority-backed advice project, to explore the potential of reusing electric vehicle batteries in the home, as a storage source of linked to photovoltaic panels.
“The potential for this project is extremely exciting,” added Herron, “and indicative of our work to look beyond simply putting electric vehicles on the road.”
The Sunderland centre has also received backing from the European Regional Development Fund and the Government’s Regional Growth Fund. It was given fast track planning permission earlier this year under the Local Development Order, new legislation designed to allow approval within 28 days where developments are in harmony with surrounding industry.
The FTC site is located only yards from Nissan’s Sunderland plant — where Britain’s only electric car, the Leaf, has already started production — and will under-pin Wearside’s reputation as the country’s premier automotive design and production area.
Included in the centre’s research brief are studies into clean propulsion techniques, including induction charging and hydrogen power sources. Other research will explore so-called smart home technologies, such as the sharing of battery power between electric vehicles and private homes. Nissan’s Leaf already has the capability to power a home’s essential appliances in the event of a power cut.
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