Interview: APC's Julian Hetherington on innovations in automotive propulsion

Julian Hetherington, director of the Advanced Propulsion Centre's Automotive Transformation Fund about the innovations that will propel the automotive sector towards net zero.  

For HGVs and commercial vehicles carrying sufficient batteries to cope with the duty cycles of these vehicles is simply impractical, as such, fuel cell technology that ensures there is zero emission at point of use is key. This is of utmost importance for this sector, which is why we’re very keen to support it. For passenger cars, the main focus areas are batteries and in driveline system efficiency – including power electronics.

Technology changes will enable faster charging and better energy density in batteries from a vehicle packaging perspective, which also reduces weight and thus decreases overall energy demands per km. Improving the processing efficiency for manufacturing batteries and ensuring that this energy-intensive process can access competitive power from renewables will also reduce the embedded carbon footprint – a crucial consideration as we move towards Life Cycle Assessment.