The Federal Government has announced $6.2 million in grants through the Green Car Innovation Fund for the production of lighter cars that will reduce carbon emissions.  The grants have been awarded to component manufacturers CFusion, Toyoda Gosei Australia, Composite Materials Engineering and Hirotec.

 

Federal Minister for Innovation Kim Carr said the components being developed to retool the automotive industry will help in the manufacture of cheaper and more environmentally acceptable cars.

 

"In this case, we expect the four projects will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 133,000 tonnes and significantly reduce fuel consumption," he said.

 

The grants are as follows:

  • CFusion - around $1.4 million to commercialise the world's first one-piece carbon fibre automotive wheel, at about half the weight of aluminium wheels.
  • Toyoda Gosei -  over $2.3 million to introduce and refine technologies for manufacturing lighter components, namely body sealing products and safety system products, such as air bag modules and plastic interior trim products.
  • CME  -  $797,399 to develop a high strength, lightweight sandwich panel to be used in the load floor of Australian vehicles. This product will significantly reduce the weight of the load floor whilst meeting all of the performance requirements for this component.
  • Hirotec  - over $1.6 million to produce lighter automotive components including aluminium hoods and deck lids using innovative product design to significantly reduce the overall weight of passenger motor vehicles.

 

While the Green Car Innovation Fund closed to new applications in January to help fund flood recovery, it is continuing to generate approximately $2 billion in total project investment in the manufacturing sector. Visit www.innovation.gov.au for more information.

 

For information on new opportunities for clean technology research and development, visit www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au