The UK Government has committed to decarbonising transport in the UK by 2050 through its Transport decarbonisation plan, which aligns with its Net Zero Strategy, which in turn sets out policies for decarbonising all sectors of the UK economy. Mass electrification of transport is vital to achieving this goal, however the UK's supply chain for key enabling power electronics is fragmented, with insufficient scale, resulting in key elements still being sourced internationally. Project '**SCION** -- **S**ilicon **C**arbide **I**nverter with **O**ptimised **N**ano-modules', brings together a collaboration of UK based industrial innovators and technology developers via RAM Innovation, the Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult (CSAC) and EMPEL Systems to develop a UK designed and sourced innovate power module. The consortium will also be supported by several major global power electronics and semiconductor manufacturers. RAM Innovations are set to research and manufacture the paragon of power modules by embedding the SiC MOSFET's in a printed circuit board (PCB), with co-located control and capacitance, designed for production scale that is cost effective. SiC facilitates power conversion at much higher efficiency levels compared with current devices, enabling reduced device size with reduced energy and cooling requirements. However, this performance potential needs limiting when using conventional packaging to prevent electromagnetic and thermal problems, resulting in an under-utilisation of SiC capability. **SCION**'s embedded packaging design for a fully optimised Nano power module will allow the SiC MOSFET to perform at full potential, resulting in a higher volumetric power density, increased efficiency, and reliability not seen in the automotive market today. EMPEL Systems will be the project leaders and, in partnership with the Shield Group, are developing a series of novel, highly integrated eMotors and inverters. As part of this work, a new variant under consideration includes an electrically excited synchronous machine (EESM) configuration enabled by the advanced control and modular architecture of the SCION platform. EMPEL will serve as the main route to medium volume production for the new power module in the 2028 timeframe, with support from multiple well-regarded OEMs, Tier 1s, and the APC too. The modularity of the Optimised Nano-module (ON), supports the planned exploitation of **SCION** technology into many other markets for EMPEL Systems and other similar companies too: Lower/Niche vehicles; off-highway; light aircraft; marine and grid storage for products such as chargers, DC/DC converters, and inverters. Project **SCION** will then create, test and qualify advanced samples, to industry quality requirements ready for exploitation.

In line with the **ATF strategy**, the project partners will industrialise, to automotive volume production standards, **producing a series of fully functional air compressor prototypes** for **commercial vehicle** hydrogen fuel cell applications, with a clear roadmap towards initial and high-volume production. Key deliverables aligned to ATF will be: * To validate for scale up through pilot production **fully functioning efficient air compressor parts**. * To demonstrate a **clear route to scale up**, with a route for securing market share. * To contribute to the UK's net zero supply chain, **closing gaps with UK based suppliers** and establishing UK capability where applicable. * To increase business confidence in making large scale manufacturing investment, based on validation to automotive standards and **clear understanding of supply route to volume** production. The project partners are: EMPEL, founded in October 2019, to develop and manufacture next generation **state of the art integrated electric motor and power-electronics systems** based around a unique modular and scalable hardware and software architecture ZF is a global technology company **supplying systems for passenger cars**, **commercial vehicle**s and industrial technology. ZF have a footprint of 9 UK sites, with an **newly invested R&D centre in the West Midlands** employing around 750 engineering staff.

This collaborative Industrial Research project brings together the partners of Shield-Engineering, PUNCH-Flybrid, EMPEL-Systems and PFS-Manufacturing to develop innovative electric-motors, inverters and energy storage systems, ultimately resulting in three new UK manufacturing centres, creating \>750 jobs overall, saving 250,000tonnes CO2/year and anchoring key technology for near-term hybridised ICE/BEV vehicles in the UK. This will enable EMPEL, an SME to manufacture inverters, Shield, a UK Tier2 to evolve into an Automotive Tier1 e-motor manufacturer, PUNCH-Flybrid's technology to be anchored in the UK and PFS-Manufacturing to manufacture automotive flywheels in the UK. The project addresses the automotive council strategic technologies to provide state-of-the-art electric machines and power electronics, alternative hybrid propulsion systems and energy storage systems using flywheel energy storage. This is achieved through development of two innovate products: * Modular, multi-voltage, scalable e-motor with integrated inverter technology, at \>15kW/kg almost double the Automotive Council targets for e-motor power-weight ratio. * Modular flywheel energy storage technology integrated with e-motor and inverters that achieve double the state-of-the-art power-density of battery packs at lower cost. The technology will be validated on two vehicle platforms, a sports-car which pushes the envelope of power-weight ratio for flywheel and e-motor technology, and a light commercial vehicle to prove up to 25% CO2 emissions improvements from fuel saving and brake energy recovery. Key components such as motor internals, forgings and die-casting will be developed within the UK supply chain to anchor the technology in the UK providing growth for UK manufacturing. Overall this project will deliver R&D directly worth £13.27M (including £2M overseas) with £5.63M of APC funding to generate three pilot plants for production of e-motors, inverters and flywheels. Over the following 7 years the partners will invest in scaling-up the three manufacturing plants to produce \>40,000/year e-motors, inverters and flywheels creating \>750 jobs in the process. The technology will also be exploited for off-highway and industrial applications including green technologies. This project will be transformational for UK electric motor and inverter production whilst enabling UK flywheel technology, originally born from F1 racing, to be successfully commercialised.

This project will reduce the ecological and economic costs associated with the ownership of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs). CAVs are widely anticipated to disrupt the future of transportation -- with estimations of adding up to £62Bn in economic growth to the UK economy by 2030\. This is driven by intense interest surrounding the introduction of high-utilisation mobility solutions, such as Shared Mobility and Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Ecological and societal impacts are also widely predicted, with decreased congestion, increased leisure time, more urban space (due to higher vehicle utilisation), and reduced emissions. This future will only be realised if our new vehicles provide a net economic and ecological advantage over existing mobility solutions, something which is not necessarily guaranteed given that additional driverless equipment may negatively impact vehicle efficiency, production cost and production carbon. \[see appendix 2, exhibit A1\] In this study we will benchmark existing passenger vehicles based on their lifecycle economic \[£/km\] and ecological \[gCO2e/km\] cost. Then, by means of a trade-off study, we will propose a novel vehicle design which achieves significantly lower lifecycle costs compared to the best existing benchmark. Our hypothesis is that by increasing vehicle service-life relative to production cost/carbon, we can achieve much better economic and environmental outcomes for CAVs across their lifecycle. We see the trade-offs for this being higher manufacturing costs and vehicle weight -- exactly the opposite of current automotive design trends which favour low build cost (and hence low service-life) designs. This is a novel approach to passenger vehicle design, and is perhaps much more akin to a commercial vehicle methodology. This new approach to passenger vehicle design also makes sense commercially. As passenger vehicles transition from consumer goods to capital assets, key purchasing drivers for CAV fleet owners will be economic-cost-per-km \[£/km\] and life-carbon emissions \[gCO2e/km\], both of which will be optimised in this study. We will consider a top-level vehicle overview then proceed to explore the vehicle powertrain in quite some detail. The powertrain (Drivetrain, Motor, Inverter, Battery) is the most expensive and carbon intensive life limiting vehicle component, so this is where we allocate the largest project effort.

This collaborative project brings together UK design, manufacturing and supply-chain resources to define how future requirements for this innovative solution for an electric motor with integrated power electronics (inverter) will be successfully configured meeting performance, package, cost, quality and volume demands. This feasibility project will robustly set EMPEL and Shield on the accelerated path to class-leading design and manufacture. This innovative approach is delivered through scalable architecture enabling numerous client applications to be supported with minimal tailoring and unique tooling. The architecture allows the motor & low-cost inverter to be integrated into client's hardware reducing parts count, weight and package dynamics. Collaborative partners: EMPEL Systems bring leading edge motor and power electronics design while accelerating their knowledge acquisition. Shield Engineering (SMT) bring manufacturing know-how and resources.This project drastically advances Shield's plans to support clients with in-vehicle propulsion solutions. Key to the useful outcome of this feasibility study is the contribution of strategic UK based suppliers of core commodities, components and manufacturing equipment. A range of such suppliers will be engaged from the outset to determine optimum specifications which will in turn protect the future scalable architecture requirements and frame the design for manufacture rules. These suppliers will then be equipped to support EMPEL & Shields innovations and growth and the growing broader UK PEMD capability. The project addresses the following investment areas: Power Electronics Manufacture Electrical Machine Manufacture Electrical Steel and Magnet Materials & Manufacturing It will be achieved through definition, value planning and DfM of scalable, core-technology e-motors and inverters for multi-voltage requirements and a large range of motor speeds torques. The products will be configured for stand alone, modular or integrated in-vehicle installation. The project outcomes will include: Higher-volume motor, inverter and key component designs with multi-voltage scalable architecture Design for manufacture guidelines for core processes and components Core process definition backed up by evaluation and verification trials, with estimated manufacturing process-flow, cycle-times and investment requirements at potential volume breaks Production cost indications and challenges Acceleration of automotive market opportunities. Achievement of sufficient TRL and MRL enabling confident transition into future development and exploitation The main focus areas include application of scalable architecture approach, disciplined DfM reviews with fully engaged UK strategic suppliers addressing the challenges and preconceptions of the industry and enabling investment in volume growth.