WMG at the University of Warwick, is part of a unique six-way partner collaborative research and development project led by Aston Martin.

Project ELEVATION has received £9m funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) to supplement the research and development of Aston Martin’s in-house bespoke luxury battery electric vehicle platform.

Awarded following a competitive process, the government grant will support the development of Aston Martin’s luxury BEV platform and enable a route to net-zero, including investment in vehicle light weighting, a digital toolchain and electrification training.

Project ELEVATION is led by Aston Martin, and supported by the Manufacturing Technology Centre; Expert Tooling & Automation; Creative Composites; Fuzzy Logic Studio and WMG. The project will address the technical challenges of developing a lightweight, 800V traction battery pack and twin front electric drive unit (EDU) into a modular BEV platform with a bandwidth from supercar to SUV.

WMG’s role will focus on supporting the design, manufacture and life-cycle analysis (LCA) of the modular structural composite battery enclosure. Researchers in the composites group based in WMG's Materials Engineering Centre (MEC) will conduct materials evaluation and investigate automated high-volume composite manufacturing of hybrid structures using existing tooling and equipment to demonstrate attributes on early learning components. This knowledge will then be transferred to Creative Composites for manufacture of the project demonstrator components and provide LCA of the composite structure into the Manufacturing Technology Centre's holistic LCA model.

Roberto Fedeli, Group Chief Technology Officer of Aston Martin, said: “The award of funding from the APC is another major boost to our electrification strategy and constant strive for innovation. Providing further resources to explore the possibilities of our bespoke BEV platform, it will help achieve our ambition to be an in-house BEV technology leader in the ultra-luxury, high-performance segment. We look forward to progressing this project with our collaborative partners and thank the APC for their incredible support.”

Ian Constance, APC Chief Executive, said: “The 23rd round of our collaborative R&D competition coincides with the APC’s 10th anniversary. We’ve seen over £1.4 billion of investment into automotive projects since the APC was set up, and I am proud of the impact that we have made here in the UK. This latest announcement includes a diverse set of OEMs and suppliers that demonstrate the strength of UK automotive. They will further add to our portfolio of innovative projects and continue to drive the UK to deliver on its net zero ambition.”

Find out more about WMG’s composite light-weighting research here https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/research/materials/acrc