The UK Government is providing a £25 million grant for projects aimed at accelerating the development of innovation low carbon vehicle technologies.

Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark said the funding will be provided through the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), enabling three research and development projects run by Jaguar Land Rover, Ford Motor Company and Arcola Energy to drive the development of low carbon propulsion technologies and their supply chains.

Jaguar Land Rover’s project brings together a consortium of academic and industry partners, with the aim of developing strategies and capabilities to produce electric drive units alongside internal combustion engines at its manufacturing facilities.

Another project led by Ford will work with a consortium to collaborate on the development of digital engineering tools for a new engineering process that enables the next generation of electrified commercial vehicle technologies to be developed and brought to the market much quicker.

The final project, led by Arcola Energy, aims to bring to market complete fuel cell electric powertrains, develop an integrated motor drive unit, strengthen UK capability in battery packs supply and demonstrate hydrogen storage technology on a commercial vehicle.

The projects, valued at £54 million in total including the grant funding from the APC, are expected to save around 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 and help build the future of two major UK automotive facilities, creating and safeguarding a total of 1,750 jobs.

Mr Clark added: “Investing in these cutting-edge projects will ensure the UK is leading destination for the innovation and manufacture of electric vehicle technologies and components.

“Through our modern Industrial Strategy, we are harnessing our globally-renowned automotive heritage and engineering excellence to unlock the economic opportunities future vehicle technologies present to businesses across the country.”