Announced at the Cenex Low Carbon Vehicle (LCV) event at Millbrook Proving Ground this week, the funding is provided by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of the Research Councils UK (RCUK) Energy Programme, and covers two projects.

ELEVATE (ELEctrochemical Vehicle Advanced Technology) is led by Professor Rob Thring at Loughborough University, and aims to improve the performance of hydrogen fuel cells and batteries, as well as working on the integration between vehicles, the grid and other devices.

Participants also include the University of Warwick, University of Southampton, University College London and the University of Oxford, and the project will be informed by an Industrial Advisory Committee which includes Jaguar Land Rover, chemicals company Johnson Matthey and clean technology experts Intelligent Energy.

A second project, Ultra Efficient Engines and Fuels, will aim to improve the efficiency of conventional engine technology by a third.

Professor Philip Nelson, EPSRC's Chief Executive, said: ‘The UK's research base and its universities are a fantastic source of new ideas and refinements from which industry can draw to grow and innovate. Low carbon vehicles are, without doubt, an inevitable and very necessary next step for the automotive industries. The leading research that EPSRC supports will help to make the mass use and production of these vehicles a reality more quickly.’