Regional report: How the Midlands is driving the UK's low carbon transport revolution

The Midlands is the spiritual home of the British automotive industry. It’s a legacy that stretches back nearly 130 years to the very dawn of motoring. But the region is also at the forefront of the emerging low carbon automotive sector, with a formidable skillset that ranges from academic research to large-scale vehicle production.

The sheer breadth of these capabilities in the Midlands is a topic that comes up time and again when you speak to organisations in the region.

“I think what makes the Midlands so strong is the ecosystem that’s developed around here. It’s not just the OEMs, but the tier ones and tier twos, the consultancies, the test houses, the industrialisation centres and the academic institutions,” said Alex Wood, senior project delivery lead at the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC). 

“The original idea behind the APC was to connect the dots, with perhaps an OEM and a tier one working together with a route to market. It’s all about different organisations working in collaboration, and the knowledge transfer it brings.”