- New investment supports further development towards launch of game-changing electric delivery vehicle
- ELM Mobility will create a last-mile product ecosystem with integrated digital tools, services and support
- Development and investment partners include Barclays Climate Ventures, Prodrive, Astheimer Design and Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd
ELM Mobility, an innovative, UK-based, last-mile ecosystem business, has announced new investment – £10 million from the government.
It follows the recent successful completion of seed funding, led by Barclays Climate Ventures, which gives the ELM team the budget to take crucial steps towards commercialisation. That will see the launch of a cargo-carrying battery electric vehicle (BEV) that reduces logistics costs, emissions, and urban congestion for last-mile delivery businesses, plus an integrated range of digital tools, services and support.
The £10 million is part of the UK government’s £4 billion DRIVE35 programme, delivered by the Department for Business and Trade in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) and Innovate UK. The remainder of the funding is from ELM and its six partners to further develop the project and key supporting technologies.
ELM Mobility – it stands for Efficient Last Mile – began life in 2023 as a collaborative study between Prodrive Advanced Technology, a division of world-renowned motorsport and engineering business Prodrive, and Astheimer Design, a globally-respected design studio creating sustainable mobility solutions.
Today it’s a stand-alone business with clear goals, and the partners are all highly respected UK businesses: Electrified Motors is providing cutting-edge motor technology; Nyobolt brings a fast-charging, air-cooled battery with long cycle life; and low-emission research consultancy CENEX offers a wealth of customer modelling experience and capability. The final piece of the jigsaw is Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd, ensuring the production vehicle will have world-class manufacturing input.
Mark Stringer, CEO at ELM Mobility, commented: “Our ambition is to create the best-in-class urban last-mile delivery vehicle. Supported by the APC, this collaboration brings together leading UK capability across design, engineering, and the BEV supply chain, informed throughout by the practical realities of manufacturing and customer use. This depth and balance of expertise will optimise the ELM vehicle for production and, I believe, will deliver a genuinely game-changing solution for last-mile logistics.”
Stringer added: “By focusing upon exceptional delivery efficiency to reduce logistics costs, emissions and urban congestion, our solution directly addresses the core challenges faced by the sector. We believe our innovation will enable logistics operators to meet regulatory requirements for decarbonisation while supporting the transition to cleaner, less congested cities.”
To date, ELM Mobility has developed a compact, agile and highly efficient demonstrator vehicle with a greater load capacity than a compact van. Having now secured new funding, the project’s next steps are to optimise the product ahead of customer trials in 2027 and develop the production-ready platform. Workstreams will include:
- Developing a new signature cab design to maximise driver effectiveness, informed by Astheimer’s product design experience in micromobility and commercial vehicles
- Digitally modelling last-mile delivery in the real-world to develop a BEV propulsion system matched to customers’ requirements and their charging infrastructure to deliver class-leading vehicle efficiency
- Engineering an optimised lightweight platform to deliver durability, safety and efficient performance that can be manufactured cost-effectively in the UK
- Creating a ‘digital twin’ of the delivery environment to ensure minimised Total Cost of Operation for customers, and provide a platform for future development
The result will be an all-new second generation vehicle that will validate the product ahead of full commercialisation.
Steven Poulter, Head of Barclays Climate Ventures, commented: “ELM Mobility is tackling one of the toughest challenges in logistics: making last-mile delivery both cost effective and minimising emissions and congestion in urban environments, with an optimised payload and dedicated practicality. This funding marks an important step towards bringing their product to market.”
For more information, please visit www.elmmobility.com
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