"Our government recognizes the importance of leadership and vision in the automotive industry and created Automotive Partnership Canada to help the industry make greener, better-performing vehicles," said Mr. Saxton. "This initiative will create jobs and strengthen the economy for future generations."
Earlier today, the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry, announced four projects under Automotive Partnership Canada program, representing an investment of more than $14.9 million over five years for automotive research and development projects worth a total of $28.6 million.
"Canadian academic researchers are well-suited to tackle specific issues for providing a sustainable automotive industry," said Dr. Suzanne Fortier, President, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. "With these projects, researchers are developing the next generation of automobiles by addressing issues that will enable the commercialization of electric vehicles and improve the performance of natural gas engines."
Today’s investment is another example of how this government is working with partners to accelerate the development and adoption of innovative digital technologies across the economy.
Announced by Minister Clement in April 2009, Automotive Partnership Canada is a five-year, $145-million initiative to support collaborative research and development to drive the Canadian automotive industry to greater levels of innovation. Industrial partners play a key role in this initiative by providing both financial support and essential in-kind contributions to ensure the success of the research projects. Three previously approved research projects focus on reducing weight by using more plastic parts in engines, improving the efficiency of transmissions and advancing state-of-the-art longer-range electric vehicles.
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada is a federal agency whose vision is to help make Canada a country of discoverers and innovators for the benefit of all Canadians. The agency supports some 28 000 students and post-doctoral fellows in their advanced studies. It promotes discovery by funding more than 11 800 professors every year and fosters innovation by encouraging more than 1500 Canadian companies to participate and invest in post-secondary research projects.
Backgrounder
Automotive Partnership Canada Initiative
Automotive Partnership Canada (APC) is a five-year (2009–2014), $145-million initiative to support significant, collaborative, industry-driven research and development that benefits the Canadian automotive sector.
APC involves funding from the following partners:
*Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada ($85 million)
*National Research Council Canada ($30 million)
*Canada Foundation for Innovation ($15 million)
*Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada ($5 million)
*Canada Excellence Research Chairs Program ($10 million)
Research Areas
An Industry Task Force guided the development of APC. This included identifying research priorities, grouped under three strategic themes. All research to be supported must fall under at least one of the three priority areas listed below:
* Improving the Automobile’s Environmental Performance and Impact
* The Cognitive Car
* Next Generation Manufacturing
Four new research projects approved under APC will help develop ways to increase widespread adoption of electric vehicles, improve natural gas engine technologies, provide engineering software for automotive designers and store and re-use onboard thermal energy:
1) NECSIS: Network for the Engineering of Complex Software Intensive Systems for Automotive Systems
McMaster University, General Motors of Canada, IBM Canada, and Malina Software (Maibaum)
Government of Canada APC investment: $10,575,000
NECSIS will tackle obstacles and develop new model-driven engineering (MDE) capabilities that lead to the development of the next generation of MDE methods and tools. It involves creation of a network (strategic network for the engineering of complex software intensive systems for automotive applications) as opposed to development of a technology. Advances made in this area will assist manufacturers in preparing for complexities they may face in the implementation of new automotive components, particularly as electrification technology transitions into vehicles. This project will be transformational with respect to the capabilities of model-driven engineering and with respect to the effective development of software in the automotive sector.
General Motors of Canada, one of network’s major industrial partners, is one of the few companies in North America that builds large complex software systems using MDE technologies. Canada is uniquely positioned to lead this research. It has one of the largest, strongest and most industrially experienced software-engineering research communities in the world, with a depth of expertise in related disciplines, including programming languages, embedded systems, human factors and cognitive science.
2) Next Generation Electric Vehicles: Development of Key Technologies and Full Vehicle Testing
University of Waterloo, General Motors, and Maplesoft (Khajepour)
Government of Canada APC investment: $3,568,000
This project will address many of the challenges, identified by General Motors, hindering widespread adoption of electric vehicles, including development and validation of key enabling technologies, such as vehicle stability control, power management systems, and battery monitoring and charging devices. Innovative design tools that will streamline the design-to-commercialization process will also be developed to reduce both time and cost of EV production in Canada. Collectively, these advancements will drastically reduce environmental impacts while accelerating fabrication of Canadian-made electric vehicles and related systems.
3) Ultra-Low Emission High-Pressure Direct-Injection (HPDI) Natural Gas Heavy Duty Engine
University of British Columbia, Westport Innovations (Rogak)
Government of Canada APC investment: $499,824
The purpose of this research is to support the continued development and commercialization of natural gas engine technologies. Westport Innovations is the world leader in diesel/natural gas dual fuel injectors. The University of British Columbia has developed a strong collaborative relationship with Westport.
Compression-ignition natural gas engines can achieve very low emissions and may be a viable way to reduce operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions in many heavy-duty applications. To remain competitive, the technology developed by Westport Innovations must take advantage of the advances in conventional heavy duty engines and explore fundamental questions specific to natural gas combustion. Most of the effort is directed towards single-cylinder engine testing, but injection visualization and modeling will play important supporting roles in understanding fundamental causes of soot formation as well as identifying engine hardware and operating parameters necessary to achieve very low soot emissions over a wide range of operating conditions.
4) Innovative Thermal Energy Storage System for Use In Automobiles
University of Toronto, Dana Canada Corporation
Government of Canada APC Investment: $234,000
This project focuses on the development of a novel energy storage system for automobiles that reuses waste thermal energy. This would contribute to reduced start up emissions and shorter time period of increased fuel consumption of a cold engine and power train through active warming of the power train oils. Even greater interest for this technology is expected for hybrid and electric vehicles. The purpose of this study is to determine an appropriate metal oxide-hydroxide reactor to efficiently store and release internal combustion engine waste exhaust energy. The investigation will compare functionality of known and viable improvements with emerging heat storage technology.
