Warwick Science Park to spark electric vehicle industry

The University of Warwick Science Park (UWSP) is attempting to boost the electric vehicle industry.

While investment in the industry has increased dramatically over recent years, demand for electric vehicles remains at a relatively low level, and the industry has not developed as was expected.

Dirk Schafer, of UWSP, said: “By now, many thought the market for electric vehicles in the UK would have really taken off. Put simply, that hasn’t happened and no-one is 100 per cent sure why.

“There seems to have been everything but a market for the product. We have carried out research with companies within this sector in the region to try to establish what difficulties they have faced and to gauge their view on what has stopped it really taking off.”

The main problems for the electric vehicle industry are the high development costs of the internal systems. Warwick Science Park’s Techmark team has, however, discovered chances for systems which should entail lower development costs.

The Techmark team comprises a wide variety of skills, including expert knowledge of different engineering disciplines and marketing experience.

The Techmark team have already contacted some of the firms in the industry in order to conduct better research, and ultimately solve, some of the problems faced by the industry.

Six local companies have already volunteered to work alongside UWSP to evaluate the new proposals. Through combining resources, they hope to produce the new vehicle system.

Bill Taylor, of Techmark, added: “We have strong experience in spotting and creating clusters and developing them. We have done it in the past with software, games, laser technology, food processing and others.

“We will be drawing on that experience to work with the companies who have signed up in order to really give the industry a kick-start. One of the aims will be to bring the skills together to develop a product that the group can take to market.

“We already have several other market based products in mind. If we can get this first product to market quickly then we should have the development route for other products already established.”

The member companies will provide components such as power electronics and embedded systems, while UWSP will deal with innovation, marketing and management. The first meeting was held in June to discuss the first product.