ManufacturingNews New British electric city car gets £9m funding A project to develop a new allelectric urban car, manufactured using an innovative and sustainable production process, has been announced by Gordon Murray Design. Development of the T.27, the brain child of Gordon Murray Design and Zytek Automotive Technology, has been made possible through a £4.5m investment from the government-backed Technology Strategy Board. With a total cost of £9m, and with match-funding from Gordon Murray Design (£3m) and Zytek (£1.5m), the new research and development project will allow the consortium to develop four prototypes of the vehicle by February 2011. The T.27 will be a sustainably manufactured vehicle, having been designed in a way that minimises the use of materials and keeps the embedded carbon of the vehicle as low as possible. It will be built using the iStream production process, a proprietary system developed by Gordon Murray Design that uses no major steel pressings, no spot welding and no stamping to reduce production costs and energy use substantially. “iStream is totally disruptive on materials – once you get away from being a slave to steel, you can develop a manufacturing process that is fit for purpose using a combination of steel, composites and plastics without the need for
expensive major pressings,” says Professor Gordon Murray, CEO and technical director of the lead consortium partner. The aim of the 16-month project is to develop four prototypes that will position the consortium to explore the viability of large scale production and building manufacturing facilities. Ours is strictly a high volume model,” Murray says. “The ultimate goal is to make an affordable, fun, and environmentally friendly car widely available on the open market.” Science and Innovation Minister Lord Drayson, who has test driven the T.25, the existing petrol version of the car, said: “The T27 is a great example of smart engineering and sustainable design. It’s timely too, as the UK must demonstrate its readiness to exploit the emerging low-carbon vehicles market. We need to expand our car industry through green innovation.” Integral to the potential of the car’s business model is the tie-up with Zytek and the Technology Strategy Board (TSB). “Because the whole project has been designed from the ground up, with two partners’ separate expertise, it will deliver four full prototypes by February 2011,” says David Bott, director of Innovation Programmes at the TSB. Murray was the chief design engineer for Formula One team McLaren and has 44 years of car design experience. He and his team were the creative minds behind pedigree high performance cars such as the Brabham BT46B, McLaren P6 and the McLaren F1 GTR. He left McLaren to set up his design company in 2004 to focus exclusively on low carbon vehicle development. If the project hits target the car is expected to be available commercially by late 2012, at a retail price of about £6,000.
Newsinbrief Government’s credit insurance scheme has turned out to be huge flop having serviced just 72 firms with only £18m worth of cover out of a total pot of £5bn. Introduced in May this year, the top-up scheme was designed to restore the cover of UK businesses who had had theirs cut back to pre-recession levels. But the scheme is now likely to be curtailed in the forthcoming Pre-Budget Report after business secretary Lord Mandelson intonated that ministers will not back an extension and said improving market conditions detract from its necessity.
The new UK Scotch Whisky Regulations came into force on November 23 in a bid to protect the industry against counterfeits and help consumers identify products. The regulations take in production, bottling and labelling. The law has defined five categories of Scotch Whisky: Single Malt, Single Grain, Blended Malt, Blended Grain, and Blended. The category which the whisky falls under will have to be clearly defined on the bottle.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change is inviting applicants for £1.5 million Bio-energy infrastructure grants. From today, applicants in England can apply for £1.5 million worth of grants to help develop the supply of biomass, such as wood chips or energy crops like miscanthus. The grants are available through round three of the Bioenergy Infrastructure Scheme. Technology born in the heart of Worcestershire is promising to make Britain’s streets safer after a major new contract with the Scottish Government was announced. Metrasens, which emerged from defence technology specialist QinetiQ six years ago, has agreed a deal to supply 17 of its FG1 Portable Security poles for use at train stations, nightclubs and sporting venues.
McCain Foods is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its iconic Oven Chip. Launched in 1979, the oven chip contains only 5% fat (less than 1% saturated fat) and no cholesterol. Due to oven chips having 40% less fat than the average homemade deep-fried chip, it is no surprise that in the last thirty years, McCain Foods (GB) has sold over 200 billion chips.
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