Member Article

Innovate UK backs Stockton engineering firm's electric vehicle development

Stockton-based Carroll & Meynell Transformers Ltd, which designs and manufactures electrical transformers, is building a prototype of a new multi-vehicle electric vehicle charger which can charge up to 10 vehicles at a time.

The engineering firm was supported by Teesside University to secure a £100k grant, from Innovate UK, to allow for development.

Omar Al-Janabi, Business Innovation Manager at The Forge, the University’s business hub, assisted Carroll & Meynell by bringing the funding to the company’s attention and helping with the bid-writing process by drafting and editing sections of the document.

The successful bid now means Carroll & Meynell can take their concept from the drawing board and test a real-life version of the charger.

Mike Meynell, Managing Director, said: “We’ve always had a very good working relationship with Teesside University and have worked with it on everything from student placements to a staff member completing a PhD.

“Without this Innovate UK grant we wouldn’t have been able to develop the multi-charge and Teesside University has been integral to the process.

“Everybody in our industry is looking towards the electrical vehicles’ market. It is something that is growing all the time and is not going to go away.

“The multi-charge has the potential to be a real game-changer for our company. It will allow us to move into that market and put the company on a global footing.

“As an SME we wouldn’t have been able to do this by ourselves and we’re very grateful to the University for its help.”

Omar Al-Janabi added: “We’re delighted that Carroll & Meynell has been successful with this bid and we look forward to working with them further as the multi-charge is developed.

“It promises to be a really exciting development as it means that electric-vehicle charging points could be upgraded to cater for more vehicles without the need for a huge investment in infrastructure.”