The Niche Vehicle Network (NVN) has announced the Callum Skye as this year’s winner of the Nick Carpenter Innovation Award as part of a special presentation at the UK Government Pavilion stand at Cenex Expo.
The annual award recognises outstanding niche vehicle R&D projects, which accelerate the transition to zero emission forms of transportation. CALLUM, along with partners Codem Composites and Nyobolt, was awarded the trophy for the outstanding CALLUM SKYE project – a lightweight, rapid-charge, all electric ATV. In particular, the use of sustainable materials to produce the bodywork and the ultra-fast charging battery were noted as being particularly significant innovations within the niche vehicle sector.
The project developed a body exterior set of panels made from Flax Composite with Bio-Resin, manufactured using a HALO tooling board which uses bio-content to improve its sustainability and its CO2 emissions. For this programme 100% bio-content was used on the tooling, proving that it is possible to build vehicle body panels using this material & tooling. This innovative use of materials and tooling, implemented by CODEM, achieved a substantial CO²e savings of over 10,000kg for the build of the prototype vehicle alone compared to more traditional composite materials, setting a new standard for sustainable manufacturing.
The project also demonstrated a novel battery pack, developed by Nyobolt, built with production intent cells and modules which deliver ultra-fast charge capabilities (the 35kWh pack can fully charge in under 10 minutes). The potential for vehicles to be recharged in such a short period – without significant degradation of the battery life – is an exciting development which addresses an area of concern for many potential BEV customers, which can be applied to other vehicle types and sectors.
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