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Super green cars got a serious cash boost from the UK government yesterday. A total of 16 projects researching lower carbon vehicles are to receive a total of £23m from the government-funded Technology Strategy Board. Plus a further £70m has been earmarked for a new Low Carbon Vehicles Integrated Delivery Programme starting this autumn. Which, frankly, all sounds very dull -- until you find out how cool the projects are.
The research projects cover everything from fuel cells, making lightweight car bodies, tweaking and improving internal combustion engines, working on energy storage (batteries for electric cars) and finessing aerodynamics (such as the superior grille on the VW BlueMotion Polo).
Here are four cool highlights:
-- the Axon 60, a 100+ MPG plug-in hybrid with a body made from carbon fibre. The University of Warwick and Axon Automotive are working on the concept, which will show its face at the Sexy Green Car Show later this month. SmartPlanet will be there, so tune in on 23 May for a video.
-- New lithium-ion battery tech for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. These should address the limited range of current EVs on the market, such as the G-Wiz and Mega City. FIFE Batteries is leading the research.
-- Electric versions of London's iconic TX4 black cabs (pictured). Expect an all-electric and zero-emission edition of the national icon to hit our fair capital's streets by 2012. Just one thing -- how will we hear them coming when we're trying to drunkenly trying to flag one at Old Street roundabout at 4am on a Sunday morning?
-- A 'Limo-Green' project being developed by Jaguar to create a sub-120g-CO2-per-kilometre luxury vehicle. This also has the added kudos of Lotus Engineering's knowledge being thrown into the mix.
You can read the full list of all 16 projects on the Tech Strategy Board's site.
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