DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund Drawdown 5

Description DRIVE35 (Driving Research and Investment in Vehicle Electrification) is a Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) led programme aimed at transforming the UK's automotive industry. This is achieved by supporting R&D and the commercial scale up of innovative zero emission vehicle technologies, and unlocking capital investment in zero emission vehicles, batteries, and their wider supply chain. Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will work with the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) and the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) to invest up to £150 million as part of the DRIVE35 Scale Up Fund. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received. This funding is from the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, delivered by Advanced Propulsion Centre and Innovate UK. This competition is part of a long term commitment for driving growth sectors within the Government's Industrial Strategy . The aim of the Scale up Fund is to support manufacturing facility and process development at pilot scale or demonstration scale. These projects will enable businesses to validate manufacturing capability and commercial viability, achieving market entry at the targeted production volume from the project outcomes. Your proposal must justify the funding required with a case for government intervention and matched by substantial private investment. In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it. Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have 30% chance of success. We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny. The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) is the budget holder for the DRIVE35 Programme and has the final funding decision. We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions. The deadline for this drawdown submission is 11am UK time on the dates stated in this Innovate UK competition brief . We cannot guarantee other government, or third party sites will always show the correct competition information. We plan to open Drawdown 6 on the next working day after this competition closes, but this may change. Drawdown 6 will be a separate competition on IFS. If you do not submit your application to this competition by the deadline, it will not carry over to Drawdown 6. You will need to start and submit a new application if you want to apply to Drawdown 6. Funding type Grant Project size Your project’s total eligible grant funding request must be between £2.5 million and £20 million. Your project’s total eligible costs must be over £5 million. Accessibility and Inclusion We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance. We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline. You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). Your proposal The aim of the Scale up Fund is to support manufacturing facility and process development at pilot scale or demonstration scale. These projects will enable businesses to validate manufacturing capability and commercial viability, achieving market entry at the targeted production volume from your project outcomes. Your proposal must justify the funding required with a case for government intervention and matched by substantial private investment. Your project must: • support growth, transition, and resilience of the UK’s automotive supply chain, increasing capability whilst improving productivity, efficiency, and competitiveness • contribute to the UK’s strategic aims and priorities, such as the Industrial Strategy, the Automotive Council’s Roadmaps and Strategic Technology areas for eligible on-vehicle technologies, including zero emission vehicle assembly and the associated supply chain • undertake a scale

Who can apply Your project Your project must: • be a single applicant or consortia led • have a total grant funding request of between £2.5 million and £20 million • have total eligible costs of at least £5 million • last for at least 12 months, including an initial period where you can raise the co-investment before your project starts • start from 1 June 2027 • end by 31 March 2030 Any organisation receiving funding must carry out its project work in the UK, intend to exploit the results in the UK, and spend most of the funding within the UK. Projects must always start on the first of the month, even if this is a non-working day. You must not start your project until your Grant Offer Letter has been approved by Innovate UK. Any delays within Project Setup may mean we need to delay your project start date. You must only include eligible project costs in your application. See our overview of eligible project costs . Eligible capital costs are explained within the application. For specific guidance, see the eligibility section in this competition. If your project’s total grant funding request or duration falls outside of our eligibility criteria, you must provide justification by email to competitions@apcuk.co.uk at least 10 working days before the competition closes. We will then decide whether to approve your request. If your project does not meet our criteria and you have not requested justification approval, your application will be made ineligible, and it will not be sent for assessment. Raising co-investment Following award of a grant offer, you will have a period of up to nine months, to raise the co-investment required to deliver this project. Further details about this requirement are included in the ‘ what happens if you receive a grant offer ’ section. Lead organisation To lead a collaborative project or work alone, your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size. More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules . Research and technology organisations (RTO’s) and Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone. Project team To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered: • business of any size • academic institution • charity • not for profit • public sector organisation • research and technology organisation (RTO) Each partner organisation must be invited into the Innovation Funding Service (IFS) by the lead to collaborate on a project. Once partners have accepted the invitation, they will be asked to login or to create an account in the IFS. They are responsible for entering their own project costs in the application. To be an eligible collaboration: • the lead and at least one other organisation must request funding • you must explain why you’re collaborating and how the collaboration will work Non-funded partners Your project can include organisations who do not claim any funding for their work on the project. Their costs will be covered from their own resources. These can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit the results outside the UK. Where non-funded partners have been invited to the application on IFS, their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs. Subcontractors Subcontractors are allowed in this competition. Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process. You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you cannot use subcontractors from the UK. You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. We will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor. All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs. Number of applications A business can lead or collaborate on any number of applications. An academic institution, research and technology organisation (RTO), charity, not for profit or public sector organisation can collaborate on any number of applications. Sanctions This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions . For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups . Use of animals in research and innovation Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance. Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed

Before you start You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start. Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure: • that all the information provided in the application is correct • your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria • all sections of the application are marked as complete • if collaborative, that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs) You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline. What we ask you The application is split into three sections: • Project details. • Application questions. • Finances. Accessibility and Inclusion We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. You can contact us at any time to ask for guidance. We recommend you contact us at least 15 working days before this competition’s closing date to allow us to put the most suitable support in place. The support we can provide may be limited if you contact us close to the competition deadline. You can contact Innovate UK by email or call 0300 321 4357. Our phone lines are open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm UK time, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). 1. Project details This section provides background for your application and is not scored. Application team If you are collaborating on your project, decide which organisations will work with you on your project and invite people from those organisations to help complete the application. If you are applying as a single applicant, decide who from your organisation will work on the application and invite them to complete the application. Application details Give your project’s title, start date and duration. Research category Select the type of research you will undertake. Project summary Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application. Your answer can be up to 400 words long. Public description Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project. Your answer can be up to 400 words long. Scope Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why. Your answer can be up to 400 words long. 2. Application questions The assessors will score all your answers apart from questions 1 to 8 and 29. You will receive feedback for each scored ques