Deadline: 20-Apr-23
The European Commission (EC) is currently accepting applications for its Frugal Zero-emission Vehicles Concepts for the Urban Passenger Challenge.
Scope
- Urban spaces will be changing in the future. There will be a massive shift from the parking-lot culture in the city to recovery of living spaces as well as increasing intelligence in the urban spaces. Both will have a strong impact on individual means of mobility. New vehicle concepts that harmonize with these new developments, but also achieve widespread user-acceptability, will be needed. Platform concepts with sufficient variability will be able to meet the needs of both advanced and emerging countries.
- New designs, shapes, architectures, and functionalities capable of delivering mass-market capable frugal versions for emerging markets and versions in the EU, associated countries and advanced markets with a single, generic platform, including swappable and interoperable battery systems (for L-category) should be covered. Proposals should address battery electric vehicles that are specifically better suited for operation (in appropriate versions) in future urban spaces both in emerging as well as established markets.
Funding Information
The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
- public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
- cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).
Expected Outcomes
Projects are expected to deliver solutions tailorable for specific usage models and particular market factors in order to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
- Accelerated global uptake of affordable, user and mission centric solutions tailorable for specific usage models e.g. occasionally transporting additional passengers (and particular market factors both in advanced and emerging markets).
- Effective design, assessment, and deployment of innovative low-cost but upgradable Electric Vehicles solutions (powered two-wheelers, light cars or microbuses) for the clean urban transport challenge.
- Higher sustainability and minimized cost by leveraging economies of scale but still offering flexible variations through modularity.
- Ensured ease of use in targeted urban and sub-urban areas that accounts for traffic and parking conditions as well as for battery charging/swapping points availability.
- Lower energy consumption by means of vehicle tailored to the urban environment conditions and constraints (e.g. lighter mass, suitable range and dynamic performances, higher utilisation of local resources, including reuse of components and systems, and eco-sustainable materials).
Eligibility Criteria
- To become a beneficiary, legal entities must be eligible for funding.
- To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions,
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States,
- countries associated to Horizon Europe;
- the following low- and middle-income countries.
For more information, visit European Commission.