Planned to open by the end of 2024, the new facilities will be located at bp’s global headquarters for its Castrol business in Berkshire. The site undertakes research and development of fuels, lubricants and EV fluids and aims to become a leading hub for fluid technologies and engineering in Britain.
In a statement, Michelle Jou, CEO Castrol said: “We are committed to supporting the electrification of transport and the take-up of electric vehicles. The growth of EV fluids is a huge opportunity, and we aim to be the market leader in this sector.
“This significant new investment will now allow us to build additional strategic technologies and capabilities to further advance EV fluids for the future. The facilities will also be an amazing showcase to demonstrate our integrated technology expertise to customers as we help drive the transition to EVs.”
The new facilities will help advance the development of leading fluid technologies and engineering for hybrid and fully battery electric vehicles, aiming to bring the industry closer to achieving pivotal moments for mainstream EV adoption.
Castrol intends to use the new facilities to continue to work with car manufacturers and suppliers to co-engineer future battery technology and associated thermal management fluids. It will also look to develop future technologies required to help to enable the ultra-fast charging which underpins bp pulse’s growth strategy.
In addition, the advanced e-fluid technologies and engineering can be applied to other industries including thermal management fluids for data centres where demand is rising. Most of the world’s internet traffic goes through data centres and since 2010 the number of internet users worldwide has doubled. Global internet traffic has increased 15-fold, a trend that is expected to continue over the next decade.
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