Car for Young Drivers is an ambitious project that will demonstrate how British engineering excellence can deliver novel, low carbon transport solutions to alleviate the issues associated with getting young driver's safely integrated into the vehicle owning and driving population. Prototype vehicles will be designed, developed and will give public demonstrations of their capabilities. A consortium of specialist automotive companies are working together under the guidance of the insurance industry to produce an extraordinarily safe heavy quadricycle vehicle for 2 people that features novel hybrid driveline technology, lightweight impact-resistant body and features designed specifically to appeal to young drivers.

The 36 month project will carry out research and develop a completely new chassis system concept for a 7.5 - 12t [G.V.W.] truck. A light weight future truck chassis concept will deliver at least 30% weight saving compared with the current Best in Class truck chassis. The aim of this project is to prove out the feasibility of this concept, so it can be incorporated into future truck chassis designs created at Leyland Trucks. Its design will allow the installation of all the planned next generation of Low Carbon vehicle driveline technologies, from full EV through hybrid vehicles and refined diesel vehicles. Significant weight saving will be achieved by the use of various Aluminium alloys deployed by using diverse manufacturing methods, i.e. extrusions, cast nodes and brackets. The project includes a number of innovations to deliver the weight saving and integrate truck chassis and body under structure.

Emissions control on vehicles is becoming more tightly regulated throughout the world to improve the environmental performance. Within Europe, emissions of Nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, Carbon monoxide and particulate matter are controlled and tighter emissions limits are set to come into place in 2014 (Euro 6). This step change in the performance requirements coupled with other regulation changes presents a clear commercial need to develop emissions control technologies. CO2 reduction is a key driver in the automotive market fuelled by the twin requirements of reducing CO2 emissions and offering customers reduced fuel consumption in the face of spiralling fuel costs. Work with market leaders has emphasised the need for new technology to address these issues. FAME introduces the use of a pre-combustion device for premixed charge petrol internal combustion engines (RHK1). The device has been designed to reduce vehicle emissions and improve fuel economy by improving the air/fuel mixture quality before fuel injection into the cylinder. The project will further develop the concept trialled in an earlier feasibility study by one of the partners to improve the reductions already gained and help prepare the technology for market. FAME is a 2 year Applied R&D collaborative project between three highly innovative companies and guidance from a world leader in automotive engineering. The consortium includes an end-user partner in the automotive industry.

Direct Write (DW) is primarily an additive process where functional materials are directly imaged onto substrates to form components with no waste or processing chemicals. DW methods are environmentally friendly, energy efficient and have a small process footprint. The aim of COPE is to take DW technology from Proof of Concept (PoC) to robustly engineered preproduction level demonstration, focussing on adding functionality to structures using inkjet and micro-nozzle techniques with highly engineered functional inks. The project will address issues such as design, manufacturing, cost, durability, product certification and through life management that includes recycling and disposal. The challenge is to mature DW technology so that it meets current functional and durability standards. PoC components can be manufactured, however it has been shown that the level of function is relatively low and more importantly that lifetime can be very short. This project will develop the basic capability toolset to convert highly engineered functional nanoparticulate powders into robust engineered products.