The British government has granted Aston Martin £9 million to develop its luxury BEV platform.
While the British government may be flip-flopping on its environmental policies in recent times, it would nevertheless seem that it is still willing to splash some cash on some cooler EV projects. That is especially when considering it has since recently awarded Aston Martin £9 million (RM 52 million) to develop a luxury modular BEV platform, en route to the automaker’s goal of a fully electrified lineup by 2030.
Apparently awarded following a competitive process, this particular injection of cash from the UK government is made through the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC). What more is that Aston Martin technically isn’t the only automaker to benefit from this grant, with Lotus also having previously receiving some dough for its own EV projects from it too.
Aston Martin has further reiterated that aside from this grant, the supercar marque itself will be pledging a £2 billion (RM 11.5 billion) commitment to advanced technologies over the next five years in order for it to transition towards its intended fully-electric future as well. The British automaker intends to invest in vehicle light weighting, a digital toolchain and electrification training among other aspects on its eventual goal towards net-zero.
Speaking more about the BEV platform it is developing too meanwhile, Project ELEVATION, as the automaker dubs it will be a modular and lightweight all-electric platform that could be utilised from anything to a supercar to an SUV. Developed in collaboration with 5 other partners (Manufacturing Technology Centre, Expert Tooling & Automation, Creative Composites, Fuzzy Logic Studio and WMG, University of Warwick), this new platform will also apparently feature an 800V-capable battery pack in addition to the capability of a twin-motor setup up front.
Roberto Fedeli, Group Chief Technology Officer of Aston Martin, has stated regarding this recent grant: “The award of funding from the APC is another major boost to our electrification strategy and constant strive for innovation. Providing further resources to explore the possibilities of our bespoke BEV platform, it will help achieve our ambition to be an in-house BEV technology leader in the ultra-luxury, high-performance segment. We look forward to progressing this project with our collaborative partners and thank the APC for their incredible support.”
The first Aston Martin to receive some form of electrification is its mid-engined Valhalla V8 supercar, which is slated for launch sometime next year. The first fully-electric model from the British supercar marque on the other hand is supposedly due sometime in 2025.
By 2026, all new Aston Martin model lines will feature an electrified powertrain option, with the long-term objective for its core range to be fully electrified by 2030. Though this might just change, especially with the British government recently delaying its ICE ban to 2035 instead of the original 2030 deadline.
