This week I saw first-hand how industry and government investment is transforming manufacturing across the UK, visiting a major OEM’s former transmission site in Halewood, North West England, which is now making electric drive units – critical components for the transition to zero emission cars and vans.
While the facility had been successfully producing internal combustion vehicle transmissions for more than six decades, with the transition to zero emission vehicles ramping up, it became increasingly clear that the long-term future of the site was to build new electric e-drive for cars and light commercial vehicles. The decision was made following a competitive bidding process among European locations and Halewood was chosen to receive a £380 million investment – encouraged by backing from government’s Automotive Transformation funding – securing the future of jobs and economic growth in the region.
The investment will help reinforce confidence in the UK’s electric vehicle supply chain and its ability to compete globally, both of which are core missions of government’s Industrial and Trade Strategies. As part of those plans, the Rt Hon MP Peter Kyle, Secretary of State for Business and Trade, announced at SMMT’s Annual Dinner last month that government would commit a further £1.5bn to its DRIVE35 programme, with a total of £4bn now available to accelerate the automotive transition.
In particular, the programme supports R&D, commercial scale-up and capital investment across the zero emission vehicle supply chain. It is open to UK-registered businesses of all sizes, with funding available through three pillars – transformation, which focuses on large-scale capital investment and plant upgrades, scale-up, aimed at expanding manufacturing capabilities and validating production processes; and innovation, which funds disruptive technologies and advanced digital tools. The commercial vehicle sector has a critical role to play in decarbonisation, and with an already diverse manufacturing sector, and increasingly zero emission new van, HGV and bus markets, the opportunities for green growth are getting bigger. Further applications for DRIVE35 funding are open, so I would encourage businesses to consider getting involved here
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