Completed Clean Energy Engineering

Paradigm_Shift - breakthrough Small Lightweight EV Platform

Funder InnovateUK (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation Gordon Murray Design Limited
Funding £2.5M
Period Jun 2018 — Mar 2021

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

Gordon Murray Design, Delta, and aiPod are building a 450-kilogram electric vehicle platform that weighs less than half of a typical small car. This matters because electric vehicles today remain heavy and expensive, limiting their adoption. The project combines Gordon Murray's iStream superlight manufacturing—which uses lighter materials and simpler assembly than stamped steel—with Delta's advanced battery and drivetrain technology. The result is a zero-emission platform that needs far less energy to move each mile, while keeping safety high and costs low. If successful, this platform could change how cities deploy shared electric transport. aiPod plans to manufacture thousands of these vehicles in small, low-capital factories distributed globally, then operate them as mobility-as-a-service fleets. That means cities could offer affordable, on-demand zero-emission transport without building expensive charging infrastructure for every individual owner. The lighter platform also reduces wear on roads and requires less battery material per vehicle, easing pressure on supply chains for critical minerals.

View original technical description
"Paradigm\_SHIFT, a collaborative project between Gordon Murray Design (GMD), Delta and aiPod, will accelerate the transition to zero-emissions transport by developing a next-generation Zero-emission Vehicle Platform (ZVP). The project will combine GMD's iStream superlight(TM) technology (developed under IDP11) and Delta's advanced battery technology (""AMPLiFII"" through OLEV funding) and electric vehicle drivetrain (IDP10) to develop this ZVP. The platform will deliver dramatically lower mass (450kg), high levels of safety, lower energy, and drive-by-wire capabilities in a small footprint, making zero-emission transport options available more rapidly to the entire population. iStream superlight(TM) is stronger, lighter and dramatically lower cost than conventional vehicle manufacturing technologies, involving stamped steel. Less weight means less energy to power each transport mile. Delta's advanced EV drivetrain will then deliver this transport with zero-emissions. aiPod will take this platform to market with fleets of thousands of vehicles, manufactured in small, low capital cost, globally distributed plants, delivering cost-effective, integrated mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) to cities throughout the world."

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Original classification

Collaborative R&D

Plain English summaries and category classifications on this site are generated by AI and may not perfectly reflect the original research.