Coventry; Leading the Way to Lower Carbon Footprint

The traditional home of the UK motor industry is now fast becoming one of the leaders in the new generation of automotive development and production

The financial consequences for failing to meet CO2 emission levels – as well as the ethical incentives to producing greener vehicles – are helping to drive forward the development of low carbon transport technology.

Coventry’s famous heritage as a centre for automotive manufacturing, combined with its growing technology and knowledge base through the area’s two universities and leading automotive organisations based in the area, is helping the Midlands city establish itself as a global leader in low carbon transport technology.

University spin-off companies, such as Microcab, and other local businesses which specialise in this field have been established at science and technology parks across the city as the area underlines its status as an industry leader in green transport technology. Both WMG and TATA have premises on university sites.

Projects borne out of investment into this field are already beginning to change the face of the city which is leading the way in developing it.

One of the most visual changes comes as a result of the CABLED (Coventry and Birmingham low emission vehicle demonstrators) project, which is led by a consortium of organisations including Coventry City Council, E.ON, Coventry University, Jaguar Land Rover and Tata, and aims to increase the number of low emission, electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles on the roads in the area.

Charging points have been installed by E.ON across the city and it is hoped the success of the project and the increased popularity of the vehicles will lead to economic benefits as the city becomes a natural home for development, design and other supply chain services.

Cllr Linda Bigham, Cabinet Member for City Development, said: “The combination of automotive experience and skills along with high technology expertise in the area is very powerful and is now bringing tangible results.

“These are being seen in a number of ways including the green vehicles being developed by Land Rover, Jaguar, Tata and the CABLED initiative.

“We see this is a positive driver for inward investment and are already forging international relationships to make it happen.”

Coventry University has identified low carbon vehicles as one of its six ‘Grand Challenges’ and it is hoped the resulting research and development in this field will help to strengthen Coventry’s position as a global leader in low carbon transport technology.

The Grand Challenge initiatives are the university’s contribution towards tackling six key global issues through its applied research agenda.

Catherine Louch, Coventry University’s business development officer for strategic relationships, said: “Coventry is well positioned to become one of the leading players in the area of low carbon transport technology and our automotive heritage has definitely helped in that regard.

“We are working with industry partners both locally and internationally to complement work they are doing and this is helping us to become more established and to assess key topics in the area.

“We are already pioneering the latest technology in Coventry through the CABLED project, the development of Microcabs as well as the hydrogen re-fuelling station at the university and we are also working with Coventry City Council to make the city part of the European Network of Living Labs.”

Living Labs are real-life test and experimentation environment where users and producers co-create innovations.

Louch added: “The long term vision would be to establish Coventry as a test centre for the latest low carbon transport technology initiatives where developers can test out their latest products in a city environment.

“We are working closely with Coventry City Council to make this happen, they are very supportive of the work in this area, and the future could be very exciting for Coventry.”