Lotus Engineering Shows Strength Through Diversity

New "flow battery" technology project to showcase Lotus Engineering's

non-automotive engineering skills

Lotus Engineering is widely known for its automotive engineering excellence, but a new "flow

battery" project brings to light the diverse skills base that has been nurtured and refined at its

headquarters in Hethel, Norfolk.

ITI Energy is investing £9.3 million to develop a novel "flow battery" capable of delivering high

power capacity for an extended period of time at low-cost. The R&D project and associated

commercial development, which will be based in Scotland, involves a collaboration of Applied

Intellectual Capital (AIC), Electrochemical Design Associates (EDA) and Lotus Engineering.

Lotus Engineering will act as the engineering consultancy that will support the realisation of

the product by providing key skills to support the project from prototype design through to

product realisation. Plurion Systems Inc., will contribute all of its background IP and know how

to the project to form Plurion Ltd. a new Scottish company to lead the commercialisation of the

technology.

Ian McDonald, Chief Electrical Engineer at Lotus Engineering, commented: "This is a

challenging and exciting project for Lotus Engineering to be involved with. We will be bringing

a number of skills to the project that we have obtained from both the automotive and nonautomotive

engineering fields together to support the production and commercialisation of

alternative energy technologies."

The resulting technology is expected to have a range of key applications, including large scale

power storage for use with renewable power generation. The R&D project will focus on

producing large scale 250kW modules capable of offering up to 8 – 10 hours of continuous

high capacity discharge.

Existing applications of large scale power storage are limited due to the lack of low-cost,

commercially proven technology alternatives to pumped hydro and compressed air systems.

Novel flow battery technology, such as that being developed in this current programme, is key

to improving power supply-demand quality, reliability and efficiency.

David Thomas, Chief Engineer Chassis System Design, commented: "Lotus Engineering has

worked on a number of non-automotive projects in the past and this serves to strengthen our

profile within the non-automotive sector. Our extensive knowledge not only assists with

product concepts and development, but also with the commercialisation of the products."

Steve Clarke, Chief Executive Officer, AIC and Director of Plurion Ltd, said: "We are looking

forward to working with ITI Energy, Scottish Researchers and the many Scottish companies

that can help develop and benefit from the introduction of this technology. We look forward to

growing Plurion Ltd into a world class Scottish-based global enterprise."

Tony Amor, Chief Executive Officer, ITI Energy, said: "The successful development and

commercialisation of this game-changing technology will have enormous implications for

capturing the full potential of Scotland's renewable resources, at the same time as offering

Scotland the opportunity to sell a unique product around the world."

Lotus Engineering is planning to have an engineering presence within Plurion's Scottish

engineering facility. It will also assist with the training of local personnel and technology

transfer into the country that is only an hour's flight away from Lotus' headquarters in Hethel,

Norfolk, UK.

Press release here pr_download.pdf