North East England will be promoted as the premier location for electrification technologies and international investment at one of the leading international Electric Vehicle (EV)trade shows.
This week, Invest North East England (INEE) will lead a delegation to London EV Show to showcase the region’s strengths in electrification and battery technologies.
The inaugural London EV Show in 2021, emerged as a leading international EV event, gathering EV professionals from across the globe to drive valuable conversations and facilitate long-term collaboration.
Inward Investment Manager, Michelle Duggan, INEE said:
“The London EV Show gives us an international platform to showcase the North East. Increasingly we are finding that the North East’s wider-electrification expertise reputation precedes us. We already have an unrivalled ecosystem. While others may talk of EVs and electrification as the future – it’s our present. There is a great deal of awareness and admiration for what’s happening in the North East and we’ll continue to shout louder and work harder to attract even more investment.”
INEE will be joined by leading North East companies in the green energy and tech sector – manufacturer of advanced electric drives and transmissions Advanced Electrical Machines (AEM); battery energy storage systems company, Connected Energy; climate-tech specialists, equiwatt; and cutting edge augmented reality firm, Fuzzy Logic Studio will all be showcasing their products and services whilst flying the flag for the North East.
Completing the delegation will be representatives from the North East Automotive Alliance, the region’s local authorities and North of Tyne Combined Authority. INEE are continuing to work in partnership with a range of stakeholders and local authorities to promote the North East as location for businesses to grow.
Harvey Trent, Director of Fuzzy Logic Studio, said:
“The EV Show in London is a flagship event for our business as we continue to develop immersive learning solutions that bridge the emerging electrification skills gaps. The work we are doing in the sector is geared to help the UK become a world leader in battery technology, power electronics, motors and drives.
“Since landing in the North East of England, we have benefitted from building relationships across the region’s thriving automotive sector, which is at the forefront of the electrification charge.”
Anya Bramich, Head of Marketing for Connected Energy said:
“The London EV Show brings together the major players in the EV industry UK and will provide us with an opportunity to showcase our innovative product to representatives from the sector. Our product has many synergies with the EV sector – not only is it designed using second life electric car batteries – but it also helps to support power capacity issues caused by charging vehicles at scale.”
Dr James Widmer, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Advanced Electric Machines, said:
“The London EV Show is fast becoming a key event in the electric vehicle industry’s calendar. We are looking forward to sharing our world-leading sustainable technology to the electric vehicle value chain, and to learning from our colleagues’ processes and strategies in developing and promoting their offerings.
“As well as being a designer and manufacturer of sustainable electric motors and powertrain systems, much of our identity as a business stems from our roots in the North East of England. We are immensely proud to originate from and operate out of the region, which is renowned for its excellence in manufacturing. With the area having developed a manufacturing landscape for automotive electrification over recent years, the North East is the ideal location for Advanced Electric Machines.”
Johnson Fernandes, Founder and CEO of equiwatt said:
“We are very proud to be attending the London EV Show alongside Invest North East England. Our North East base has provided the support, talent, research and facilities to help develop equiwatt into a climate-tech business that is pioneering energy management innovation and achieving national recognition as part of Tech Nation’s Net Zero 3.0 programme.”
The North East presence at EV London is also supported by Prof. Colin Herron CBE, Newcastle University and the North East Battery Alliance (NEBA), who will be speaking on a panel about the advances in EV battery and associated technologies.
Commenting on the battery technology sector in North East England, Prof Colin Herron CBE said:
“The creation of a North East Battery Alliance is another important step in making North East England an internationally recognised centre for batteries, from mining to recycling, business support, research and skills. NEBA builds upon the decision of the Faraday Institution to locate its first regional office in Newcastle University. NEBA aims to ensure the region’s 5 universities together with CPI and the battery industry have a once in a generation opportunity to deliver truly transformational activity for the region, supported by the North East LEP.”
The London EV Show is one of a series of electrification events that INEE and regional partners have attended this year to promote inward investment in North East England.
In September, INEE and NEBA travelled to the US to attend The Battery Show – with more than 10,000 attendees, 150 speakers and the 750 suppliers, it is the largest battery and electric vehicle technology event in North America. A UK delegation was organised by the APC (Advanced Propulsion Centre), and INEE exhibited at the event alongside 14 exhibitors on the UK Pavilion.
Earlier this autumn, an international delegation from Estonia, Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden arrived in the region to explore the North East’s cleantech and renewable energy sector.
The group toured the Gateshead District Energy Scheme, immersive tech centre PROTO and Newcastle Helix before travelling north to the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult in Blyth, Britishvolt, and the Port of Tyne.
All this activity is reflected in figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) which reveal that manufacturers have committed £10.8 billion in UK EV and battery research and development, and production since 2011. Almost 40% of that had been in the North East.
Also investing in the North East are Ideanomics (Newcastle) and the Saietta Group (Sunderland), while new investor Turntide Technologies, launched a transportation division in 2021 with the acquisition of BorgWarner (Gateshead) Hyperdrive Innovation (Sunderland) Avid Technology (Cramlington, Northumberland).
Following a successful webinar to the US market in spring, INEE will also be hosting a series of new EV webinars in the new year to showcase the sector and the region to potential international investors. For more information sign up to the INEE newsletter.
To find out about the North East’s electrification sector visit www.electricnortheast.co.uk and be sure to subscribe to the newsletter to stay up to date.
