Businesses are being invited to bid for a share of £24 million to develop innovative low emission vehicles or on-vehicle systems.

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and Innovate UK are to invest the cash to enable industry-led research trials and development.

The projects must reduce emissions in the freight, logistics, utilities and emergency industries.

Large lorries and vans contribute nearly a third of the UK’s transport greenhouse gas emissions.

The aim of this competition is to encourage the widespread introduction of low emission vehicles to UK fleets and help the nation meet its CO2 reduction targets. It will also help reduce other emissions and reduce operating costs for companies.

The competition is divided into two streams: Part 1 will fund projects that trial vehicles and on-vehicle technology. The aim is to test the benefits of the technology before commercialisation.

Part 2 will fund projects that develop innovative and disruptive on-vehicle technologies, systems or business models. These must reduce emissions in the real world.

The registration deadline is noon on 12th October.