U.K. Center to Guide New Ideas into Production

Startup companies can prove their technologies are ready for low-volume production at the new Proving Factory, which opened on Monday in Rotherham, England, The Engineer reports.

The $34 million program, which is 60% funded by government sources, aims to bring new automotive technologies from prototype to annual production rates as high as 20,000 units.

Partners include Tata Steel, which is providing the manufacturing site, Jaguar Land Rover, engineering consultants MIRA and Productiv, powertrain components producer Schaeffler Group and manufacturing consultant Unipart Group.

The Engineer says initial Proving Factory customers include developers of flywheel storage systems (Flybrid Automotive), gearboxes for electric motors (Drive System Design), rotary engines (Libralato), micro gas turbines (Bladon Jets) and transmissions (Torotrak).