Ultra-light Gordon Murray platform wins £11m government funding

The government has awarded Gordon Murray Group (GMG) a share of an £88 million innovation fund, which will aid development of a new lightweight electric car platform. The Surrey outfit, named for founder and ex-McLaren engineering legend Gordon Murray, is one of 46 UK-based companies to land a portion of the new fund through the government-backed Advanced Propulsion Centre's Collaborative R&D competition. GMG will share around a quarter of the total pot (£22.5 million, including an £11m government grant) with Farnham-based Protean electric, a developer of in-wheel motors for electric vehicles. GMG will use the funding to support the development of a new "ultra-lightweight vehicle platform for future vehicles", dubbed M-LightEn. The company has not given any details of the new platform, nor said what it will specifically be used for, but strategy and business director Jean-Philippe Launberg said that one aim of the project is "to make cars significantly more energy-efficient to build and run, contributing to the UK's decarbonisation". He added: "Furthermore, the extra lightweighting we will unlock through M-LightEn directly enhances the already legendary dynamics of our cars. It’s Driving Perfection … taken to the next level." Since Gordon Murray founded his own automotive company in 2017, it has revealed a pair of V12-powered supercars called the T50 and T33, established a new headquarters in Windlesham, Surrey, and announced major growth plans that revolve around developing EVs for global car firms. Autocar has previously reported that the company was working on a pair of electric SUVs (one for a third party) with a focus on keeping weight as low as possible while producing them in the most efficient way - a process Murray refers to as 'i-Stream'. Gordon Murray previously revealed the company was working on a “revolutionary, lightweight, ultra-efficient electric vehicle architecture” that would first underpin “a little SUV with a compact delivery-van derivative”. It is likely this new government funding will go towards productionising the architecture that will underpin these future models, but GMG has also previously confirmed it is working on its own 'very noisy' hybrid sports car. No further details of the platform have been given in the government's announcement, beyond the confirmation that it is a monocoque structure destined for "a portfolio of class-leading future vehicles". Protean, meanwhile, says the funding will support the company "to continue to lead electric vehicle innovation from our UK development centre". The company, which has headquarters in Surrey and China, makes in-wheel motors that are said to allow for more precise control over vehicles while doing away with the need for axles, driveshafts and subframes - thereby reducing mass and allowing smaller batteries to be fitted. UK firm Bedeo has used Protean's motors in an electric Land Rover Defender conversion, which is said to weigh roughly the same as the original car despite featuring a large 75kWh battery pack. GMG and Protean are two of 11 companies to be awarded APC funding for the 'rapid' development of automotive projects. The rest of the 46 are either technology start-ups focusing on decarbonisation technologies, collaborative R&D projects or projects "exploring zero tailpipe emission vehicle technologies within the niche vehicle sector". Pointing to the investment in EV battery development projects in particular, the APC highlighted that the UK is forecast to need 110GWh of annual EV battery output by 2030 - the equivalent of six gigafactories. "Recent gigafactory announcements in the UK by AESC and Tata Group have built excitement about the potential to create a new, dynamic and highly skilled battery industry in the UK," it said, adding that some 270,000 jobs could be supported by the EV and battery industry in the run up to 2040. Other firms to be awarded funding include Equipmake, which is developing an electric fire engine; Triumph Motorcycles, for a new software stack; Wrightbus, for a new EV bus demonstrator; and Nyobolt, which is working to certify its innovative lightweight battery anode technology.