Ceres Power Holdings PLC (LON:CWR), the fuel cell technology specialist, is to work with car giant Nissan to develop a range extender for electric vehicles.
The partnership comes after a consortium, led by Ceres, was granted £772,000 from Innovate UK and The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) back in March to develop electric vehicle technology.
Ceres and Nissan, which will also work alongside manufacturer M-Solv, are aiming to develop a compact, on-board solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) that addresses the issue of range with electric vehicles.
Ceres hopes that by improving the range, the adoption of electric cars into the mainstream market will be significantly accelerated.
“We are delighted to be working with Nissan and M-Solv to enable an all-electric vehicle with a longer range and shorter refuelling time,” said Ceres’ chief executive Phil Caldwell.
“In addition, this project broadens the applications for Ceres Power’s SteelCell technology into the automotive industry as well as using alternative fuels such as biofuels.”
At the start of the year, the company said it planned to announce five major partnerships over the next couple of years.
This deal with Nissan is its second, following on from its agreement with Honda earlier on in 2016, and Ceres is hoping to announce another one within the next few months.
Ceres will work alongside Nissan for an initial 21 months to develop the SOFC.
Shares were down 0.2p, or 2.5%, to 8.31p.