Seeking to modernise the UK’s energy system and maximise the potential of renewables, the British government has awarded £30 million to three pioneering companies to develop new energy storage technologies.
According to the government, accelerating the uptake of these technologies will not only save billions of pounds in energy costs, but also help balance the National Grid, and increase the country’s energy security.
The funding will help the businesses test and prepare their technology for the market, encourage private investment, and create new jobs across the UK.
The selected companies are the following:
Invinity Energy Systems
The battery maker will receive £11 million to build the largest grid-scale battery ever manufactured in the UK.
The 30MWh system power battery system will be capable of delivering more than 7MW of power on demand — with a capacity equivalent to the daily energy use of approximately 3,500 homes for over two hours.
The system replaces lithium with vanadium: a malleable transition metal, discovered in 1801. The company claims that vanadium’s use results in higher-performance batteries: they’re inflammable, non-degrading, and over 97% recyclable, while they last for 25+ years.
Invinity Energy Systems will build the battery at its factory in Scotland, and will integrate it with the existing power infrastructure of the National Grid to alleviate pressure during peak times.
SynchroStor
SynchroStor will construct a Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) grid-connected demonstration plant. The system stores energy as heat, based on a closed-cycle Brayton loop, and converts heat to electricity when needed.
The facility will have a 1MW capacity and will be capable of charging, storing, and discharging energy for a period of 10 hours — outperforming current battery technology.
To realise the facility’s construction, the government has awarded SynchroStor £9.4 million.
Cheesecake Energy (CEL)
The startup will receive another £9.4 million to test their FlexiTanker technology which stocks electricity using a combination of thermal and compressed air storage.
Cheesecake Energy will install a set of pilot systems in a new mixed-use development in Colchester, which is being set up as a microgrid to handle local grid constraints.
The site will also have an 8MW solar farm and a central heat pump that will provide district heating to nearby residents and businesses. CEL’s system will collect surplus energy generated from solar power, which can then be used when demand is high.
“Storing energy for longer periods is vital to build a robust and secure energy system, and ensure that renewable energy is used efficiently,” said Graham Stuart, Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero.
“Fortunately the UK has a wealth of pioneering businesses that are making their mark on this industry. [The selected companies] will go on to play a role in our country’s energy security,” he added.
The £30 million funding is part of the Longer Duration Energy Storage Demonstration competition, which has awarded £69 million as part of the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy’s £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio.
The digitisation of cars has made comparisons to “data centres on wheels” so common that they’ve become clichéd. It’s also built a booming market for tech firms — few of which have capitalised as adeptly as Arm.
Often described as the UK’s leading IT company, SoftBank-owned Arm designs energy-efficient computer chips. The company’s architectures are found in endless applications, from smart cities to laptops, but they’re best-known for powering mobile devices. Around 95% of the world’s smartphones use Arm’s technology.
Dennis Laudick, Arm’s vice president of automotive go-to-market, attributes the growth to a convergence of three trends: electrification, automation, and in-vehicle user experience (UX).
“All of those are driving more compute into the vehicle,” he says — and more compute means more business for Arm.
As the company prepares for a long-awaited public listing, Laudick gave TNW a glimpse into his automotive strategy.
Electric avenues
Gradually, EVs are engulfing the car market. Last year, fully-electric vehicles comprised over 10% of car sales in Europe for the first time. Globally, their total sales hit around 7.8 million units — as much as 68% more than in 2022. To serve this growing market, automakers have to integrate a complex new collection of electronics.
“When you do that, it becomes a lot more complicated system,” says Laudick. “You need to look at even more electronics to manage it, and that causes people to rethink their architectures.”
The result is firmer foundations for more digital features. Take the all-electric Nissan Leaf, which runs Arm’s Cortex-R4 processor alongside an electric powertrain.
To control the power inverter, a microcomputer core has to accurately repeat a series of processes — such as sensing, calculation, and control output — for events that occur in 1/10,000-second cycles. In this tiny computation window, the system has to deliver efficient, responsive, and precise control.
The Leaf’s battery has been moved closer to the car’s centre of gravity. According to Nissan, this provides better stability and cornering than front-engine vehicles. Credit: Nissan
The Leaf also has a new electronic pedal system, which the driver uses to control the car’s speed by applying pressure to the accelerator.
When the accelerator is fully released, regenerative and friction brakes are activated automatically, bringing the car to a complete stop — even on steep slopes — until the accelerator is pressed again. And if the driver gets tired, an intelligent cruise control system can automatically match the car’s speed to the flow of traffic, while a lane assist feature makes subtle steering corrections to keep the vehicle centred.
It’s a convenient package of features, but one that reimagines the whole foundations of a car. The likes of Nissan had spent decades establishing the controls and architectures that run internal combustion engines (ICEs) for decades. They’re now rapidly replacing their hardwarewith digital operations. The shift has fostered a concept called the “software-defined vehicle.”
“The whole industry is aware of this disruption that’s converting them from a mechanical mindset to a software mindset — and they’re all trying to reinvent themselves,” says Laudick.
“It equates to more powerful electronics.
Undoubtedly, the transition has opened up new business opportunities for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), component suppliers, startups, and semiconductor companies. But all the new features and revenue streams have to fit within the tight constraints of power consumption, heat dissipation, and physical space.
That’s where Arm wants to step in. The company’s suite of processor IP, tools, and software solutions offers the automotive sector the promise of maximising innovation.
“From our perspective, it basically equates to more electronics — and more powerful electronics,” says Laudick.
Autonomy rules
The transition to EVs has coincided with an expansion of autonomous features. While level 5 cars haven’t arrived as quickly as advertised, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), from lane detection to park assist, have become commonplace. As a result, the applications for Arm’s architectures are proliferating.
“The more autonomous functionality we drive into cars, the more exponential the compute demands are,” says Laudick. “And if you look at some of the data systems that people are looking at putting in cars in five years’ time, they’re really high-end.”
At present, Arm powers everything from processors that Dream Chip Technologies applies to radar to smart electronic fuses that Elmos uses to supply stable power. As the use cases expand, so does the demand for chips — and the rules that surround them.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has pushed to ban new combustion-engine cars. Credit: European Parliament
Both EVs and autonomous features are being pushed by regulators. Governments are encouraging electrification for environmental reasons, and autonomy for accident prevention.
In the EU, several safety features will soon become compulsory. The European Parliament has made measures including intelligent speed assistance (ISA), advanced emergency braking, and lane-keeping technology mandatory in new vehicles from May 2022.
“This will make all of us safer.
The lawmakers made a compelling case for their intervention. In 2018, around 25,100 people died on EU roads, while 135,000 were seriously injured. According to EU estimates, ISA alone could reduce the fatalities by 20%.
“ISA will provide a driver with feedback, based on maps and road sign observation, always when the speed limit is exceeded,” said MEP Róża Thun, who steered the legislation. “We do not introduce a speed limiter, but an intelligent system that will make drivers fully aware when they are speeding. This will not only make all of us safer, but also help drivers to avoid speeding tickets.”
It’s a similar story for electric vehicles. According to the European Commission, cars are responsible for 12% of total CO2 emissions in the EU. To mitigate the impact, the union recently approved a law requiring all new cars sold from 2035 to have zero CO2 emissions. In addition, already from 2030 their emissions must be 55% lower than they were in 2021.
The targets aim to accelerate electrification. In theory, this should benefit drivers, passengers, pedestrians — and Arm.
Getting flexible
As automotive compute shifts from hardware to software, demand is growing for infotainment and cockpit features. According to Arm, more than 90% of in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems use the company’s chip designs. The architectures are also found in various under-the-hood applications, including meter clusters, e-mirrors, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) control.
Munich-based Apostera is using Arm’s designs to transform car windshields into mixed-reality screens.
The shift to the software-defined vehicle has also stimulated another IT feature: updates. Historically, vehicle software was not only rudimentary, but also fairly static. Today, that’s no longer the case.
“There’s an opportunity to continue to add to the functionality of the vehicle over its lifetime,” says Laudick.
An expanding range of features, from sensor algorithms to user interfaces, can now be enhanced over-the-air (OTA). As cars begin to resemble personal devices, consumers can expect a comparable update service. As Simon Humphries, the chief branding officer of Toyota, put it: “People want control over their own experiences.”
Laudick likens modern cars to platforms, upon which software and functionality can evolve.That’s an obvious magnet for Arm, whose products and processes are fundamentally about running software.
Carmakers are also becoming savvier about software. For example, General Motors’ self-driving unit, Cruise, is now developing its own computer chips for autonomous vehicles. The company has previously used Arm designs, but is now exploring an open-source architecture known as RISC-V — which is becoming a popular alternative. The instruction set’s low costs and flexibility have created a threat to Arm’s automotive ambitions.
“One executive I was talking to said: ‘The best negotiating strategy when Arm comes in is to have a RISC-V brochure sitting on my desk’,” Jim Feldhan, the president of semiconductor consultancy Semico Research, said last year. “It’s a threat. Arm is just not going to have its super dominant position in five or 20 years.”
“There’s been a move to create more flexibility.
Currently, however, RISC-V could be regarded as riskier than Arm’s established standards. In a further challenge to RISC-V, Arm is gradually becoming more open. The Cortex-M processor series, for instance, now allows clients to add their own instructions, while extra configurability has been added to Arm software and tooling.
“We obviously try to control the products reasonably well, otherwise we just end up with a wild west. But there’s been a move in the company in the last several years to create more flexibility in certain areas,” says Laudick.
Mobileye, a self-driving unit of Intel that went public at $16.7 billion last year, is among a growing list of companies applying RISC-V architecture to vehicles. Credit: Mobileye
RISC-V is far from Arm’s only challenger. Established rivals such as Intel and Synopsys are also fighting for a chunk of the expanding market for automotive chips.
Nonetheless, Laudick is bullish about the future. He notes that today’s cars run about 100 million lines of software code, while a Boeing 787 is estimated to have “only” 14 million. By 2030,McKinsey predicts that vehicles will expand to roughly 300 million lines of code.
“I see the vehicle being, without doubt, the most complex software device you will own — if not that will exist,” says Laudick.
Next time you board a bus in Scotland and it’s driving itself, don’t freak out — this is all part of a government plan to bring self-driving tech into the mainstream.
Five fully autonomous buses will be taking to the streets near Edinburgh next month, announced Stagecoach, the UK’s largest bus and coach operator, who will be managing the fleet.
The UK government said the project, named CAVForth, would be the world’s first full-size, self-driving public bus service. CAV stands for “connected and autonomous vehicles.”
The service, which aims to transport 10,000 passengers weekly, will initially run a 22.5km circuit route, including a stretch across the iconic Forth Road Bridge – one of Scotland’s major landmarks.
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The vehicles have sensors enabling them to travel on pre-selected roads at up to 80kph. The buses will be operating at AV Level 4, meaning they have a trained safety driver onboard, but the driver will not be expected to touch the controls whilst the vehicle is in autonomous mode.
Fully driverless cars are not legally permitted in the UK. A safety driver is required at all times in all autonomous vehicles, although the government is working on an updated legal and assurance framework.
The iconic Forth Road Bridge connects Edinburgh to Fife. Credit: Ian Cardwell
Scottish Minister for Transport, Kevin Stewart, said the “innovative and ambitious project” was an “exciting milestone” that will help Scotland “establish its credentials on the world stage.”
Estimated to cost around £6.1m, Project CAVForth is part-funded by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV), delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. It is part of the UK government’s £100 million Intelligent Mobility Fund, which aims to speed up the commercialisation of self-driving transport technology.
CAVForth’s rollout of the autonomous bus fleet next month will mark a culmination of over four years’ of research, planning, and development. Similar CAV projects are planned in Sunderland and Belfast.
Driverless buses are not a new concept. In 2021, a new driverless electric bus began operating in Malaga, Spain, in a project presented as a first in Europe.
In the UK, the Cambridge Connector project, which aims to deploy 13 automated electric vehicles across the city, is set to launch next year.
Perhaps Europe’s biggest self-driving car project is ULTIMO, which has a budget of over €55m and will test autonomous public transport services in three European cities: Geneva, Switzerland; Kronach, Germany; and Oslo, Norway.
Fully autonomous vehicles have long been a goal for major automakers and companies, with plenty of startups vying for a stake in the industry. It is, however, unlikely that self-driving cars without safety drivers will be spotted on public roads within the next decade.
A bitter feud has erupted over who first resurrected the woolly mammoth — as a meatball.
The de-extinct delicacy was unveiled last week at Nemo Science Museum in the Netherlands. Naturally, no mammoths were harmed in the making of the product. In lieu of dead flesh, an Australian startup called Vow produced the meatball from DNA.
First, the team identified the DNA sequence for mammoth myoglobin, a protein that creates a meaty taste. To fill in some gaps in the sequence, they added genetic data from the African elephant — the pachyderm’s closest living relative. Using a low-current and high-voltage charge, they then inserted the gene into stem cells from a sheep. Finally, they multiplied and moulded the cells into a pasty.
The mammoth meatball was made from extinct animal DNA. Credit: Aico Lind
It certainly looks the part, but did it pass the taste test? It seems an essential question, but it’s sadly one that remains unanswered. To the disappointment of daring diners, the meatball isn’t ready for human consumption.
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That anticlimactic outcome sparked accusations that the whole endeavour was a publicity stunt. But the project team insists that their experiment serves an important purpose: showcasing cultivated meat’s potential to transform the food industry. They note that food production creates copious greenhouse gases and biodiversity loss. Cultivated meat, they argue, offers a sustainable alternative.
“Our aim is to start a conversation about how we eat, and what the future alternatives can look and taste like,” said Bas Korsten, a marketing executive who initiated the project. “Cultured meat is meat, but not as we know it. It’s the future.”
The meatball was created as a launchpad for the tech — and for Vow. With apparent justification, the company now claims it’s rewriting the rules of food. But a rival claims it’s also rewriting the rules of decency.
A pack of meat that you can’t eat. Credit: Aico Lind
As Vow was being lauded in the Netherlands, a very different reaction was brewing across the border.
In Belgium, a scaleup called Paleo was considering legal action. The company was enraged by claims that Vow had showcased a mammoth protein for the first time.
Paleo argues that it developed the myoglobin tech two years earlier. The company had also filed patent applications at that time, which Paleo says have been publically available to competitors for almost a year.
Paleo contacted Vow before the event in the Netherlands. According to the Belgian scaleup, Vow’s legal team argued that the mammoth meatball “was not food” and dismissed Paleo’s claims.
“When we learned about the event, we were surprised,” said Hermes Sanctorum, CEO of Paleo. “We sent out a press release nine months ago to announce that we developed the exact same mammoth protein (myoglobin), based on our fundamental research and innovation.
“When Vow claim that no one has tasted mammoth myoglobin, this is simply not true. We developed the mammoth myoglobin and we tasted it in our lab.”
Paleo co-founders Hermes Sanctorum (left) and Andy de Jong had their patent application published by the World Intellectual Property Organization. Credit: Paleo
Vow has dismissed the allegations.
“The technology and innovation involved in Vow’s creation and presentation of the ‘mammoth meatball’ owes nothing to any technology or alleged invention by Paleo,” the company said in a statement.
“The ‘mammoth meatball’ was conceived, developed and created entirely by the hard work and ingenuity of Vow’s own scientists (and collaborators) and using a combination of publicly available genetic data and Vow’s own proprietary production processes.”
Paleo expressed some satisfaction with the response. The company said Vow had confirmed that it had not, in fact, showcased mammoth myoglobin for the first time. Nonetheless, Paleo feels that Vow crossed a red line — but the patents could prove difficult to enforce.
Paleo develops different animal heme proteins through precision fermentation. Credit: Paleo
According to Vow, it has only been accused of adopting the idea of creating something with mammoth myoglobin. Vow argues that Paleo has no basis to claim that idea as its own.
In addition, the startup notes that an examiner at the European Patent Office deemed Paleo’s patent application was likely invalid. The Australian company described the application as an “attempted landgrab of outrageous proportions.”
“Patent rights exist in order to protect innovation and can (if granted and valid) protect truly new, innovative and proprietary ideas; but Paleo do not have any such patent rights,” Vow said in its statement. “Paleo has no granted patent in relation to mammoth myoglobin and therefore has no legitimate claim.”
Vow also criticised the pending application. If granted, the startup warned that the patent would prevent companies from using myoglobin from a wide range of animals — including pig, sheep, cow, chicken, tuna, and, of course, mammoth — as a meat substitute or food ingredient.
The feud will rumble on for now. Regardless of the outcome, the dispute has exposed the complexities of patenting food innovations.
What do you get when you mix motorcycles with origami? The answer, dear reader, is the Stilride 1.
The unique vehicle is the brainchild of Swedish startup Stilride. The company today unveiled the final design and price for the new electric ride, which is due to launch in 2024.
For €15,000, each customer will get a made-to-order motorcycle that combines looks, performance, and sustainability.
To manufacture each vehicle, Stilride uses a pioneering method dubbed “industrial origami,” which applies the Japanese art of paper-folding to sheet metal. The startup’s software first defines the geometries, which industrial robots and laser-cutting then bring to life.
For the Stilride 1, the entire process requires a single sheet of stainless steel. As it’s folded instead of welded, minimal pollutants are produced. To further minimise the environmental impact, the bike is produced locally from a small number of parts. It’s also lightweight, which reduces energy consumption.
“It’s been designed for both the motorcycle enthusiast and the design and sustainability purist.
Tue Beijer, CTO and co-founder at Stilride, wants the bike to set “a new gold standard” for electric mobility.
“The Stilride 1 is the culmination of many years’ ambition, passion, and experimentation, distilled into a deliciously unconventional lightweight electric motorcycle that isn’t only a feat of engineering, but a work of art,” Beijer said in a statement. “It has been designed for both the motorcycle enthusiast and the design and sustainability purist.”
But does it pass the eye test? You can judge that for yourself in the gallery below:
The aesthetics modernise the previous design, which my colleague Ioanna compared to “an origami duck.” To my eyes, the new model looks more like the steel lovechild of a Vespa and an electric guitar.
Regardless, looks aren’t everything on the road. In terms of specs, the Stilride 1 features an ultra-lightweight chassis made from recycled Swedish steel, a premium HUB motor system, single shock absorber and multi-link rear suspension, and a braking system that was co-developed with ISR.
There’s also a compelling connectivity system. The motorcycle’s Electric Vehicle Control Unit (eVCU) powers various features through the Stilcontrol app, which provides theft protection, geographical positioning, service diagnostics, and battery status control.
You can find further technical details in the image below:
The motorcycles will be built in Stilride’s Stockholm-based pilot production facility.
The specs and price are certainly eye-catching — but will they convince you to splash your hard-earned cash? Let us know via the usual channels.
If your answer’s yes, the launch date for the Stilride 1 will be announced this summer. And if you’re interested in early access, you can get more information on Stilride’s website.
Is it a boat or is it a plane? Put your glasses on! This is clearly an electrically-powered hydrofoil passenger ferry.
The brainchild of Swedish startup Candela, the P-12 Shuttle is set to become the fastest and longest-range electric passenger vessel in the world when it launches this summer.
Founded in 2014, Candela has spent years perfecting its design on recreational boats, and now, fuelled by a $20m cash injection, is looking to scale up production and bring hydrofoil passenger boats into the mainstream.
The startup is currently building the first two vessels at its new factory in Stockholm, and is in discussions with 180 potential operators around the world,it told TNW in a written statement.
Hydrofoils function similarly to aeroplane wings. As the water flows over the surface of the foil it creates an upwards force, lifting the boat out of the water. This doesn’t just look cool, it reduces drag and allows the boat to travel faster. It also makes the craft more energy efficient.
However, electric hydrofoil boats are inherently unstable. To overcome this problem, Candela spent five years developing computer-controlled hydrofoils that adjust 100 times-a-second using data from sensors that gauge wave height and wind speed. This balances the boat and reduces seasickness — the unsavoury side of many seafaring journeys.
The P-12 Shuttle uses computer-controlled hydrofoils to keep it stable even in rough seas. Credit: Candela
Candela claims that the P-12 Shuttle will have a top speed of 30 knots (55km/h) and a range of 110km on a single charge. What’s more impressive is that it is slated to use 80% less energy than traditional vessels, slashing emissions. A recent analysis by the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm showed that the shuttle emits 97.5% less carbon dioxide over its lifecycle than an equivalent diesel vessel.
Lars Jörnow, Partner at investor EQT Ventures, which co-led the funding round, believes the P-12 offers a “climate friendly and low-cost” solution that will be a “game-changer” for passenger water travel.
Candela hasn’t just attracted investors, but city planners, too. In 2021, the startup signed a deal with the Swedish Transport Administration to build and trial the shuttle as a potential replacement for Stockholm’s fleet of 60 diesel ferries.
The government has financed half of the project, with Candela covering the other half. The partners look to complete the P-12 at the end of 2023, and begin trialling the vessel in 2024, to connect the rapidly expanding suburb of Ekerö and the city centre.
Ekerö residents currently have to undertake a 55-minute trip by bus, subway, or conventional ferry. The Candela P-12 Shuttle will cover the 15km route in 25 minutes — saving commuters 50 minutes a day.
Maritime traffic is already Stockholm’s most popular public transport, but the current fleet is outdated and a significant source of emissions, says Gustav Hemming, vice president of the Regional Executive Board in Stockholm.
“There’s a broad political support to replace more ferries in Stockholm, as the acting politicians’ outspoken goal is not only to reduce emissions from current vessels, but also transfer commuting from land-based to waterborne traffic,” Candela told TNW. The shuttle’s flying ability and subsequent lack of wake have allowed it to gain an exemption from Stockholm’s 12-knot river speed limit.
The P-12 Shuttle will be trialled on a route between the rapidly expanding suburb of Ekerö and Stockholm city centre. Credit: Candela
“Opening up urban waterways for high-speed electric transport can revolutionise commuting in cities such as San Francisco, Seoul, or Amsterdam – at a very low cost,” said Gustav Hasselskog, the founder and CEO of Candela. “There’s no need to build new infrastructure.”
In addition to city commuting, Candela envisions inter-city and even international travel. On Sunday, it made the first ever high-speed crossing in an electric vessel between Malmö, Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark. According to company spokesperson Mikael Mahlberg, the trip took just 30 minutes and cost €3 in electricity.
Key to Candela’s viability, it says, is affordability. “Most traditional battery powered or hydrogen vessels not only lack the speed and range of diesel vessels they’re intended to replace, but they’re also very expensive to purchase and operate,” Candela told TNW.
Since conventional high-speed vessels use so much energy, they require large battery banks and charging infrastructure at the dock. Thanks to its hydrofoil tech, the P-12 uses much smaller batteries that can be charged using less expensive infrastructure.
Candela’s biggest challenge now is scaling up production to meet demand, said its CEO. Across the coastal and urban segments of vessels, Candela estimates the total addressable market for their electric watercraft to be almost €30bn.
From London to Copenhagen to Amsterdam, many of the world’s biggest cities are water-based, making electric ferries an attractive option for clean, efficient transport.
Sweden’s neighbour Norway is considered to be leading the charge on electric ships globally, with over 60 electric ferries in operation, out of its total fleet of 200.
Earlier this year, shipping was added to the EU’s Emissions Trading System (a ‘cap-and-trade’ system that limits the amounts of emissions per sector), which should accelerate the electric ship transition.
Currently, in the EU, passenger ferries are responsible for 7% of shipping emissions, making up 0.2% of the bloc’s total emissions.
BMW has invested in DeepDrive, the German startup behind a new type of “ultra-efficient” motor for electric vehicles.
The €15m Series A funding round also saw participation from the likes of UVC Partners, the Continental Corporate Venture Capital Unit, and former board member and CTO of Audi and Volvo, Peter Mertens.
Founded in 2021, the Munich-based startup has developed a radial flux dual-rotor motor that boasts the highest torque and power density of any EV motor available today, the startup claims. It also has low noise emissions, and is built using far fewer rare earth materials.
All of this translates to an electric motor that is fast, quiet, and super efficient. What’s more, the motor and its power electronics can be installed in both the wheel hub and the central drive of an electric car. Why does that matter? Well firstly, it means the motor can be installed in a wide range of electric car types. Secondly, an electric car with four ultra-efficient motors, one in each wheel, would be insanely fast, but quiet as a mouse.
DeepDrive refined its technology at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, and is now ready to go commercial. Credit: BMW
But the real selling point is more modest: DeepDrive’s drive unit results in a car that will drive 20% further and require 20% smaller batteries than its competitors. That might not sound like a lot, but this increase in efficiency could result in serious cost savings over the lifecycle of an EV, and automakers seem to agree.
Marcus Behrendt, Managing Director at BMW i Ventures, said he believes the motors offer major advantages in terms of weight, cost, and space — enabling the “next generation of ultra efficient and resource-saving electric vehicles.”
The founding team of DeepDrive first met at TUfast, the student motorsport team of the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Since then, they have developed the technology, filed patents, built the first prototypes of the drive, and validated its function at the Fraunhofer Institute, Europe’s largest application-oriented research organisation.
Now, armed with fresh capital, DeepDrive plans to start production of the dual-rotors and expand its team. The company says it is already in talks with eight of the world’s top 10 automakers, and aims to begin series production in 2026.
DeepDrive co-founder and CEO, Felix Pörnbacher, said he believes the demand for their dual-rotor technology shows they are “on the right track.”
In Europe, electric cars (including hybrids) made up 35% of all new vehicle sales in 2022, up from 10% in 2020. However, EVs are still costly to produce, and the limited range of many models remains a stumbling block for manufacturers. This is driving demand for motors that are smaller, lighter, and more powerful, which is good news for DeepDrive.
While the tech downturn rumbles on, investment in nuclear fusion remains strong — in 2021, over €2.7 billion was injected in this field alone. More recently, the UK Space Agency committed £2.9 million to have Rolls-Royce develop a nuclear reactor that could work on the Moon and power future settlements there.
Back on Earth, nuclear technology has a significant role to play in achieving global carbon neutrality and limiting global warming to 1.5°C. In its 2022 report, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) flagged its importance in improving multiple sectors including power, which is responsible for more than a third of global energy-related emissions.
The report stated: “With one of the lowest carbon footprints among low carbon technologies, 24/7 availability, and the ability to operate flexibly, nuclear power can make an important contribution to the stability and security of a fully decarbonised power system, and a good complement to renewable sources.”
In December, a major scientific breakthrough was made by the US Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration, who announced the achievement of nuclear fusion. This milestone opens the door to further advancements in national defence and the future of clean power.
When it comes to the latter, UK projects are working hard too — scientists at the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) project are developing a prototype plant, which they hope will create an unlimited supply of clean energy by 2040. In addition to that, the country has recently launched a competition for small modular nuclear reactors to power its energy transition.
Back to the present day, the energy crisis continues — in part due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Governments are now looking to invest in new and innovation-led ways to power homes and businesses across their nations.
A new way of thinking
The innovative approach to creating technology and the ‘new way of thinking’ that is synonymous with startup culture makes it perfect to disrupt the age-old nuclear technology industry. But what exactly can startups offer when it comes to nuclear?
“The nuclear sector has evolved substantially over the past few years, with the next generation of startups transforming the way the industry works,” says Elisabeth Rizzotti, COO at London-based nuclear technology company Newcleo. The startup is working to generate safe, clean, and sustainable nuclear energy by developing Generation IV reactors — a technology internationally recognised as the next step in the evolution of nuclear power plants.
Elisabeth Rizzotti, Newcleo’s COO. Credit: Newcleo
“Much like space exploration, the industry is moving away from being limited to research and what is received from government funding, to embracing an entrepreneurial spirit and showing an increased dynamism that is attracting significant amounts of private investment.”
So, what are some of the key terms surrounding nuclear? Here are four to aid your understanding:
Nuclear fusion is a process where two light atomic nuclei combine to form a single heavier one, which releases massive amounts of energy.
The 4th generation of nuclear fusion — an area often tackled by startups — encompasses a system of reactors and nuclear fuel cycle facilities, like fuel fabrication plants and reprocessing facilities. This system could manage the weaknesses often associated with nuclear power, such as poor fuel efficiency, accidents, and high costs.
Nuclear fission is when a neutron hits a larger atom, forcing it to split into two smaller atoms. When each atom splits, a tremendous amount of energy is released. This reaction is used at all nuclear power plants.
Small modular reactors (SMRs) are advanced nuclear reactors that have a power capacity of about one-third of the generating capacity of traditional nuclear power reactors.
Thriving in the sector
European startups flourishing in this industry include Danish company Seaborg Technologies, which has a mission to make nuclear energy generation inexpensive and sustainable. It has created compact molten salt reactors that it hopes will become one of the most sustainable sources of energy in the world. Last summer, Seaborg was chosen as a recipient of an EU innovation grant that saw 74 startups share €382 million in grants and/or equity investments. The sum for each startup was dependent on their needs, with a cap of €17.5 million.
Another startup to watch is Sweden-based LeadCold, which is developing a small nuclear reactor cooled by liquid lead. The startup hopes to have its first reactor ready for commercial use by 2030.
“Considering the unique features of the industry, we are looking for startups that can leverage on solid fundamentals and have assets to compete,” says Maria Cristina Odasso, Head of Business Analysis at LIFTT, an Italy-based VC that has raised over €58 million and invests heavily in nuclear startups. Its portfolio in this notoriously expensive sector includes Seaborg Technologies, LeadCold, Copenhagen Atomics, Moltex Energy and Newcleo, with the latter closing a €300 million equity raise last year and planning to raise £900 million more.
“This includes a strong scientific base, the expertise and heritage of the team and management, intellectual property and technology know-how, and a network of key stakeholders.”
Odasso notes that there is currently an interesting trend of new projects and startups around the world encompassing the so-called ‘new nuclear’.
“There are several startups and industrial projects working around 4th generation nuclear fusion and on the SMR concept,” Odasso adds.
Regulations and knowledge sharing
Despite the potential that startups offer the nuclear industry, operating in this highly-regulated field is a huge challenge. Safety and security are the first priorities of the sector, with international regulatory requirements adding an additional layer of complexity.
As of March 2023, the IAEA has 176 member states, all of which must adhere to its comprehensive regulatory frameworks that ensure the safety of nuclear installations throughout their lifetime. Its safety standards and the code of conduct on the safety of research reactors lay out the international requirements and recommendations for developing regulatory systems, which inevitably create significant, but essential hurdles for startups to overcome.
“It is challenging,” admits Odasso. “From the beginning, resources and skills for the regulatory process must be planned and secured. Otherwise, the company will never leave the research world to start a concrete industrial project.”
Newcleo’s Rizzotti believes that governments and policymakers have a key role to play, particularly in terms of initiatives and policies that promote investment and growth in the sector, but so does education.
“Beyond regulations, this goes all the way through to schooling and STEM education as we look to build the next generation of nuclear talent,” she says.
Rizzotti emphasises that Newcleo takes a strong stance on knowledge transfer and looks to its more experienced team members to work alongside those newer to the industry to ensure that their expertise is merged with the latest approaches and practices.
While it will take time, she believes this is the best way to ensure a positive future for the nuclear industry — adding that the hurdles faced by the next generation working in nuclear won’t be fixed by just a single player, but from a collaborative approach across the entire industry.
A new offering
Startups are thriving in the challenging nuclear industry and creating innovative technology that is proving to be disruptive.
“The compact nature of SMRs is a long way from the large plants of the past, offering shorter and easier build times and much more achievable delivery plans,” says Rizzotti.
“For Newcleo, our key evolution rests on closing the fuel cycle with the use of mixed oxide (MOX) fuels, which utilise existing nuclear waste. This will decrease the environmental and financial cost of disposing of such waste, reduce proliferation risk, and avoid the need to mine for new nuclear fuel.”
While innovation ramps up for nuclear startups around the globe, so too does a new demand for expertise in the field. Skills shortages in tech globally have been widely discussed, and the nuclear sector is no different. While innovators and founders may have the ideas, a lack of experts could stunt growth.
“It is likely that our biggest challenges are yet to come, and probably will be in the form of clearing the regulatory hurdles for a type of technology that has not been built before, despite it being based on existing and proven technologies,” adds Rizzotti. “But we feel well-positioned to overcome them with the scientific talent, skills, business framework and financial set up that we have.”
New beginnings
The nuclear startup ecosystem is set to continue to evolve in 2023, with France-based nuclear fusion startup Renaissance Fusion already announcing a €15 million seed round this year, in addition to numerous similar announcements beyond Europe.
Odasso predicts that in 2023, we will see new startups emerging in both the fusion and fission market segments and a huge amount of funding from both private and public funding will be put in place.
Considering the latter, she expects to see significant improvement for some existing players in the next 18-24 months, who are consolidating their projects as key industrial players in the field of SMR.
For Newcleo, 2023 will see the startup expanding its global team even further, and hopefully securing the acquisition of sites in both the UK and France that will allow it to start fully setting up for the deployment of its technology and producing the necessary amounts of MOX fuel.
“The next decade will be fundamental for the future of energy security, independence, and the planet we live on. Clean, inexhaustible energy must become readily available,” concludes Rizzotti. “We are absolutely determined to do our part to make it happen.”
Future astronauts living and working on the Moon will require robust technologies that store and deliver continuous, reliable energy.
But with no wind, no combustible fuels, no water (as far as we know), and two weeks of darkness at a time —the Moon isn’t exactly the best place to set up a solar or wind farm.
British aerospace company Rolls-Royce believes it has a solution to this conundrum: nuclear micro-reactors.
The UK Space Agency (UKSA) seems to agree. It announced last week £2.9m of funding for Rolls-Royce’s lunar micro-reactor project. This follows a £249,000 study funded by the agency last year.
With the fresh funds, the company hopes to have a modular micro-reactor demonstration model ready to deliver to the Moon by 2029.
“All space missions depend on a power source, to support systems for communications, life-support and science experiments,” said the UK Space Agency in a press release on Friday.
“Solar power would seem an obvious choice but the Moon’s rotation results in a two-week day followed by a fortnight of darkness or night time,” Dhara Patel, space expert at the National Space Centre in Leicester, England, told CNBC.
A nuclear reactor, on the other hand, could enable “continuous power regardless of location, available sunlight, and other environmental conditions,” said the UKSA. This could “dramatically increase” the duration of future lunar missions and their scientific value, and provide a source of always-on, clean power, it added.
Scientists and engineers at Rolls-Royce will collaborate with a number of organisations to deliver the demonstrator, including the University of Oxford, the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and Nuclear AMRC.
The project is part of Rolls-Royce’s £500m small modular reactor (SMR) programme, which received £210m in government backing last year, and aims to build, scale, and rollout the technology across the UK, and beyond.
These reactors would be compact, modular and factory-built, producing far less energy than typical nuclear plants but at a fraction of the cost, proponents say.
“Space exploration is the ultimate laboratory for technologies we need on Earth.
Rolls-Royce expects to complete its first Earth-based unit in the early 2030s and build up to ten by 2035, with four potential sites in the UK already earmarked. Once up and running, each reactor is expected to produce more than 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to power at least 400,000 homes.
However, commercial viability is still a long way off. SMRs are not cheap to build and, with material and energy prices spiking, licensed SMR manufacturers are struggling to keep their projects on budget. Earlier this month, Rolls-Royce stated that its current programme funding will run out by the end of 2024, and requested negotiations with the UK government to find fresh investment, Reuters reported.
Last week, the firm was thrown a lifeline when British finance minister Jeremy Hunt announced the launch of a competition to boost investment in SMRs, and funding if the technology proved viable.
While the details of the competition have yet to be revealed, it is thought that about six companies or consortiums will submit bids. The race is likely to pit Rolls-Royce, currently the UK’s frontrunner, against contenders such as London-based startup Newcleo, which recently announced plans to raise €1bn to deploy SMRs across the UK, and TerraPower, an American startup backed by Bill Gates that is developing a class of ‘travelling wave reactors.’
While the competition is a step in the right direction, it is still a long shot from the hard cash Rolls-Royce needs to meet its targets. But perhaps the Moon will prove to be an ideal testbed for the scaling of micro-reactors closer to home, and the backing from the UKSA, a springboard to maturation of the technology.
As George Freeman, Minister of State at the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, highlights: “space exploration is the ultimate laboratory for so many of the transformational technologies we need on Earth.”
The UKSA recently made £51m available for UK companies to develop communication and navigation services for missions to the Moon, to allow future astronauts and equipment to communicate, share large amounts of data, and navigate safely across the lunar surface. All these technologies will need a power source, and nuclear energy could hold the key.
Ioanna is a writer at TNW. She covers the full spectrum of the European tech ecosystem, with a particular interest in startups, sustainabili Ioanna is a writer at TNW. She covers the full spectrum of the European tech ecosystem, with a particular interest in startups, sustainability, green tech, AI, and EU policy. With a background in the humanities, she has a soft spot for social impact-enabling technologies.
On Thursday, the European Commission unveiled the Net-Zero Industry Act, a much-anticipated proposal aiming at boosting the EU’s green tech production amidst an increasingly intense global race.
The new regulation is a key part of the European Green Industrial Plan — the bloc’s response to the US’ $369 billion package of green subsidies — seeking to ensure that at least 40% of the union’s net-zero technology demand is produced domestically by 2030.
“We need a regulatory environment that allows us to scale up the clean energy transition quickly,” President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a statement. “The Net-Zero Industry Act will do just that. It will create the best conditions for those sectors that are crucial for us to reach net-zero by 2050.”
Amongst the technologies designated as “strategic” for the bloc’s decarbonisation are solar power, onshore and offshore wind energy, batteries and storage, carbon capture, biogas/biomethane, and renewable hydrogen.
The act proposes several key actions to drive investments into domestic manufacturing of these technologies. These include the acceleration of permits, the increase of skilled workforce, a designated platform to enable the cooperation between the Commission and member states, and regulatory sandboxes member states can use to test innovative technologies.
Alongside the Net-Zero Industry Act, the Commission also released its Critical Raw Materials proposal, which aims to strengthen the bloc’s supply of the critical minerals needed to manufacture green tech and reduce dependence on imports.
Both regulations are pending approval by the European Parliament and Council before they can enter into force.
“Demand is growing in Europe and globally, and we are acting now to make sure we can meet more of this demand with European supply,” Von der Leyen noted.
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The maritime industry may have long replaced sails with engines, but a UK startup is betting that wind-powered ships still have a bright future.
Founded in 2014, Smart Green Shipping (SGS), has developed a new type of wind sail, called FastRig, that cuts carbon emissions. According to the company, it can be retrofitted to existing commercial vessels with available deck space, requiring no additional crew to operate it or port-side infrastructure changes. It’s also retractable to allow for standard loading and unloading operations, and it’s designed to be recyclable.
FastRig is paired with the startup’s software tool, TradeWind, which provides operational optimisation when the ships are in use. It uses weather forecasting along with big data from The Met Office on wind, waves, and currents, to predict when the propulsion can be provided by wind, suggest the most optimal route, and save fuel.
Here’s how it works:
Based on the company’s case studies using 3D modeling, FastRig installed on an Ultrabulk ship carrying biomass from Baton Rouge to Liverpool could save 20% of fuel every year.
Now, SGS is collaborating with the University of Southampton on a project called the Winds of Change, funded by the Department for Transport and Innovate UK in an effort to decarbonise the country’s maritime sector.
“While new wind-assist technologies are being developed, many are not ready for market and their predicted fuel savings have not been independently verified at sea, which is why UK-funded research projects like this are so important,” lead scientist Dr. Joseph Banks, from Southampton’s Marine and Maritime Institute, said in a statement.
3D impression of the FastRig sails fitted onto an Ultrabulk ship. Credit: Smart Green Shipping
As part of the two-year development programme, the university researchers will create new software tools that accurately predict how modern vessels perform on the ocean when retrofitted with SGS’s wing sails.
They will also test the impact of a retractable 20 metre-high FastRig fitted to a British 105 metre-long commercial vessel, the Pacific Grebe.
“This will require innovative numerical simulations backed up by experiments conducted in our highly instrumented 138 metre Boldrewood towing tank and RJ Mitchell wind tunnel,” Banks added.
Scientists from Southampton’s Marine and Maritime Institute hope their new tool, which predicts the fuel savings achieved by the wing-sails, will encourage further investment in the UK’s marine technology sector.
“It’s clear that shipping must rapidly reduce emissions in the short term,” SGS’s CEO Diane Gilpin said in a statement. “Wind power harnessed using sophisticated digital software and well-engineered equipment is at present the fastest way for the sector to reduce fuel consumption and related emissions.”
A startup has unveiled a UK-first solution to soaring energy bills: data centre heat.
The company, called Deep Green, installs tiny cloud data centres at local businesses. The system then turns heat from the servers into hot water for the host site.
Deep Green provides the equipment free of charge and refunds the electricity costs. As a result, the client can cut their carbon emissions and energy bills.
In exchange, Deep Green gets a home for the data centre, which supplies computer power for AI and machine learning to customers.
Computers inside the washing machine-sized data centre are surrounded by oil. Credit: Deep Green.
The “digital boilers” are now coming to public swimming pools, which are struggling with surging energy costs.
Across Britain, 85 pools have closed since 2019, the Guardian revealed last week. According to trade body UK Active, 31% of council areas in England may lose or trim their leisure centres after the current energy support scheme ends on 1 April.
Deep Green today revealed that a fitness club in Devon is already using the digital boiler. Seven other pools in England have also signed up for the scheme.
To warm them up, the data centre computers are submerged in mineral oil, which captures heat from the machines. The output is then processed through a heat exchanger and into the water.
The temperature is only topped up when required. According to Deep Green, the system can cut a pool’s gas needs by over 62%, save £20,000 a year, and slash annual carbon emissions by 25.8 tonnes.
Deep Green says it can heat the pool to 30C for 60% of the time. Credit: Deep Green.
Deep Green’s tech is unusual, but it’s far from the first company to recycle data centre heat.
The concept is particularly popular in the Nordic region. In Finland, for instance, plans are afoot to use waste heat from two new Microsoft data centres to warm homes and businesses in and around Helsinki.
The project, however, relies on extensive public infrastructure. The data centres will connect to a 900km network of underground pipes to reach users in the region.
Deep Green applies a very different approach.
“Rather than building a data centre, and then finding ways to connect it to local communities, Deep Green installs the data centres directly where the heat is needed,” Mark Bjornsgaard, CEO of Deep Green, told TNW via email.
“By utilising a modular approach and building our data centres within ‘the fabric of society,’ we bring the heat to the user, reducing energy lost in transportation and increasing the efficiency of energy recovery.”
According to Bjornsgaard, around 30% of industrial and commercial heat demand could be met by Deep Green’s tech.
Just don’t tell the crypto bros — or your local pool may soon host a Bitcoin mining rig.