Last checked at 16 Sep 2010 12:31
16 September 2010
ITM Power plc
("ITM Power" or "the Company")
Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Johnson Matthey Collaboration
ITM Power (AIM: ITM), the energy storage and clean fuel company, is pleased to announce its participation in the CO2 Reduction through Emissions Optimisation project lead by the Ford Motor Company Ltd, partnering with Jaguar Land Rover, Johnson Matthey Plc, University of Bradford, University of Liverpool, University of Birmingham, Combustion Ltd and Revolve Technologies Ltd. The project aims to re-design the internal combustion engine and exhaust system to minimise CO2 levels. The project is funded by the Technology Strategy Board. ITM Power will receive £246,975 of grant funding under the project.
For vehicles to have minimal impact on air quality, catalytic converters have been fitted to modern engines. Although great strides have been made to improve the fuel economy of vehicles there is still an impact of about 4% due to emissions control systems. This project aims to re-design the engine and aftertreatment as a complete system, meeting legislative, customer and business requirements while minimising CO2 levels. This will be achieved through the use of novel aftertreatment techniques, the on-board generation and use of hydrogen and the development and application of new optimisation tools.
The major contributors to this project are Ford, which manufactures about 2 million engines per year in the UK, Jaguar Land Rover, which installs engines supplied by Ford, and Johnson Matthey, which provides many of the catalytic converters fitted into these engines. The potential UK supply chain is enhanced with the inclusion of ITM who will provide specialist equipment during the project. Three vehicles will be built to demonstrate the potential of the technology - petrol and diesel cars and a diesel hybrid bus. The target is a 4% improvement in CO2 by 2015 potentially rising to 15% by 2025.
Dr. Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power plc commented: "We are delighted to be collaborating with Ford in this area of development in the transport sector. The use of hydrogen in transport is widely misunderstood and has many different applications. ITM Power has specific expertise in this area and we are already pioneering the development of commercial hydrogen-fuelled vehicles through our Hydrogen On Site Trial programme with a number of blue chip partners."
For further information please visit www.itm-power.com or contact:
| ITM Power plc Graham Cooley, CEO | 0114 244 5111 |
| Ford Motor Company Ltd Andrew Scarisbrick | 01268 403032 |
| Panmure Gordon & Co. Katherine Roe / Abhishek Majumdar | 020 7459 3600 |
| Tavistock Communications Simon Hudson / Andrew Dunn | 020 7920 3150 |