At the Berkley Hotel in Knightsbridge on the 6th November, Kirsty Young of Channel 5 News presented Torotrak with the award as winner of the Larger Companies and Public Sector Organisations category of the Carbon Trust Innovation Awards 2003.
The company has developed a device for vehicles that enables their engines to run at optimum conditions for fuel economy and emissions reduction. Crucially, the car’s performance and refinement – of great importance to drivers - is unaffected.
Torotrak’s technology - termed an Infinitely Variable Transmission (IVT) – has the potential to become a direct replacement for all the automatic vehicle transmissions in the world. It is fully scaleable and could work just as well in small cars as a forty tonne truck.
Essentially, IVT allows control of the complete vehicle powertrain and enables optimisation of its efficiency. This is unlike conventional vehicles where the engine and transmission are controlled separately. The IVT’s software determines the torque required at the road wheels and then requests the torque from transmission. This ensures that the engine can deliver power at its most efficient point.
Torotrak has undertaken an extensive programme to develop and test the IVT, prototypes fitted to vehicles have been demonstrated to all the major car and transmission manufacturers, each of whom said that it exceeded their expectations. Tests carried out by a vehicle manufacturer show a significant fuel economy improvement of twenty per cent and a reduction in CO2 emissions of one hundred and five grams per mile.
Dick Elsy, Chief Executive Officer of Torotrak, commented, “This award is recognition of the significant reduction in the CO2 emissions that Torotrak’s game changing technology can provide for the world’s vehicles.”
The Carbon Trust Innovation Awards are run in association with The Sunday Telegraph newspaper. They recognise achievement in both public and private sectors by those individuals and organisations taking imaginative steps or developing new technologies to reduce the UK's CO2 emissions.
Further information about the Carbon Trust Innovation Awards can be found at
www.telegraph.co.uk/carbontrust.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Category Definitions
The three award categories are: Individuals and Small Businesses*; Larger Companies** and Public Sector Organisations; and Academic Institutions and R&D Facilities.
* A small business is defined by the EU as an enterprise which has fewer than 50 employees and has either an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 7 million or an annual balance-sheet total not exceeding EUR 5 million.
** Any business which exceeds the criteria detailed above for a small business.
Entries were judged on evidence of innovation and the potential they have for commercial application.
The six-strong judging panel for the Carbon Trust Innovation Awards 2003 included:
Robert Peston - City Editor, The Sunday Telegraph (Chairman)
Lord Sainsbury - Minister for Science & Innovation
Mary Fagan - Deputy City Editor, The Sunday Telegraph
Professor Peter Guthrie - Professor of Engineering for Sustainable Development, University of Cambridge
Ian McAllister - Chairman, the Carbon Trust
Dr Chris Mottershead – Distinguished Advisor, BP
The Carbon Trust
The Carbon Trust works with UK business and the public sector to cut carbon emissions. Set up by the Government to help the UK meet its climate change obligations, the Carbon Trust creates practical, business-focused solutions to carbon emission reductions.
The Carbon Trust’s annual funding amounts to approximately £50m a year in grants from Defra, the Scottish Executive, the National Assembly for Wales and Invest NI. In addition, the Carbon Trust promotes the Enhanced Capital Allowance scheme which is worth up to £150m per annum, depending on take-up.
Torotrak
Torotrak is the world leader in the design and development of traction drive infinitely variable transmission systems. Our technology offers the automotive industry significant improvements in fuel economy, performance and smoothness combined with innovative driving control features. Torotrak’s principal commercial strategy is to generate royalty income from volume supply of its IVT by car companies and transmission suppliers.
