Foresight is one of the UK's leading innovative manufacturers of lightweight thermoplastic panels with 15 years of commercial, technical and intellectual property expertise delivering class-leading, economic vehicle solutions. This feasibility study will undertake process automation research aimed at delivering productivity improvements to enable the scaling of the Recorelite manufacturing process.
Recorelite panels are lightweight, high-compression strength solutions which are starting to replace plywood in UK markets such as commercial vehicle flooring/racking and flight cases.
Funding this project will enable the development of the knowledge to scale and increase our productivity, which will support the journey towards the delivery of zero emissions, as well as reshoring manufacturing capacity and capabilities to the UK.
The project will develop an innovative zero-emission Emergency Ambulance, purpose-designed from the ground up, overcoming inherent limitations of existing ICE vehicle conversions.
HV SYSTEMS LTD (HVS)
HVS are a Glasgow-based vehicle design house and systems integrator, bringing together the latest technology from around the world to produce, zero-emission, affordable, commercial vehicles. HVS are developing vehicles to serve the medium-to-heavy vehicle sectors, powered by green hydrogen to aid the decarbonisation of the transport sector. HVS work with leading technology and component suppliers to deliver modular fuel cell powertrain and chassis solutions that allow the wider transport industry to meet ambitious emission reduction targets of -15% by 2025, -30% by 2030, followed by a full zero-emission fleet by 2040\.
FORESIGHT INNOVATIONS LTD
Foresight are investigating how its innovative, lightweight composite materials can be combined with cutting edge technologies that deliver exciting developments to the transport sector. These developments will ultimately improve operation efficiency and payload capability as well as re-shoring manufacturing capacity and capabilities to the UK.
THE TEAM
The project team comprises highly experienced industry specialist in the fields of; automotive design and manufacture, renewable energy supply and sustainability and commercial vehicle procurement and fleet management. The team will also be utilising the expertise of subcontractor Hypermotive, a UK industry leader in Fuel Cell and Electrical Integration for the automotive industry.
The team also comprises several members who have previously completed full vehicle programs from initial 'blank sheet conception, through to full production, alongside multiple other OEM, Niche and specialist vehicle programmes.
"Einstein is sometimes misquoted as saying If bees disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live. There is no doubt that the honey bee is a very important pollinator of human food in addition to the hive products of honey and bees wax that they produce. In recent decades a new phenomenon, known as colony collapse disorder, has resulted in the loss of many honey bee colonies across the globe. Whilst there is no single known cause for this, it is thought that the rise in the presence of a parasitic mite, known as the Varroa mite, has played a significant role.
Beekeepers must regularly treat hives infested with the Varroa mite to prevent their eventual death which in untreated colonies are unlikely to survive more than two years. At the moment this is done with various chemical treatments which can be found in the honey and bees wax posing a potential concern to food safety. There are also treatments based on essential oils such as oil of thyme which whilst suitable for human consumption, leave a taint in the honey so are restricted to the time of year when they can be used.
It has been known for several years that these Varroa mites are killed at a lower temperature than that which honey bees are able to survive without negative health effects. This process is known as hyperthermia and has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment method. The systems which are currently available however require beekeepers to interfere excessively with the bees by moving parts of their hives to treatment stations or to use different hive designs to those which have become standard.
For the hyperthermia method to become mainstream it requires a simple system that works with existing hives, does not require the removal of the brood frames and can be used off grid where mains electricity is not available. This project will deliver an innovative design of equipment for hyperthermic eradication of Varroa mites from honey bee colonies that will only require connection to a standard 12V battery."
The List-P project led by Omnia and supported by Tata Technologies, Arrival, Polymer Industries, Foresight Innovations, the National Composite Centre and the University of Exeter is investigating the development of a novel lightweight composite sandwich panel for medium and heavy goods as well as passenger vehicles. These will ultimately improve operational efficiency and help towards the delivery of zero emissions, as well as reshoring manufacturing capacity and capabilities to the UK.
Omnia are specialists in delivering new material solutions and intelligent products. Its focus is on thermoplastic panel technology and the supply of its unique range of composite sandwich panels. These not only offer excellent strength to weight characteristics, but also durability, innovation and sustainability.
Over the last decade Omnia has provided its customers with intelligent solutions based on sound engineering, economic and socio-economic principles. Some of its clients include, PepsiCo International, Williams F1, BP, Northgate Group, Royal Mail, DHL and TNT.
The List-P project brings together experts from across the supply chain in order to provide an end-to-end solution and optimise design and manufacture of future automotive panels.