Automotive drive systems supplier, GKN Automotive, has opened a new Advanced Research Centre, which will be used to develop next-generation eDrive systems powering future electrified vehicles. GKN also says the centre will increase engineering capability in the UK, helping it to meet its Net Zero commitment by 2050, with a technology roadmap set out by the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC).
GKN Automotive’s £3.5 million investment in the Advanced Research Centre, which is co-located across three engineering facilities, is being partly supported through the Melrose Skills Fund, to increase the automotive electrification knowledge capability and strengthen research and development in the UK.
The project will be virtually shared between the engineering departments at its partners, the University of Nottingham and Newcastle University, with research teams at each university operating collaboratively with engineers at the GKN Automotive Innovation Centre. The teams intend to collaborate to push the boundaries of eDrive technology and accelerate modular innovation, focusing on the development of ultra-high efficiency EDUs for future electric vehicles.
Both partner universities are part of the APC’s ‘spoke’ community, which brings together specialist academic, technological and commercial expertise from across the UK to share best practice for the development of low-emission propulsion technologies. The University of Nottingham is the APC’s spoke for power electronics, and home to the Driving the Electric Revolution (DER) Industrialisation Centre – Midlands; while Newcastle University is the spoke for electric motors, and leads the national network of four DER Industrialisation Centres including the Driving the Electric Revolution Industrialisation Centre – North East.
