Cenex and Leeds City Council to launch ACCRA project

TINNews |

UK’s Centre of Excellence for low carbon technologies Cenex has collaborated with Leeds City Council to launch Project ACCRA.

ACCRA is an alliance between Leeds City Council, Cenex, the Transport Systems Catapult, Earthsense, Dynniq, and Tevva Motors.

The project will focus on the Smart City technology applications that demonstrate real-time emissions control when travelling through densely polluted areas. The technology will use live air quality data in order to automatically activate the electric hybrid engines and switch to zero-emission.

Cenex transport head Steve Carroll said: “Local air quality is a persistent and growing problem in urban centres across the UK and globally.

“Using real-time air quality data to automatically instruct vehicles driving into high-pollution areas to switch to zero-emissions driving, has the potential to transform urban transportation regulation and save thousands of lives.”

Set to be demonstrated in Leeds, the project is expected to offer new ways for the cities to minimise the urban air pollution without any additional charges to motorists or businesses.

"The project is expected to offer new ways for the cities to minimise the urban air pollution without any additional charges to motorists or businesses."

The Transport Systems Catapult will collaborate with a consortium of automotive innovators to capture real-time air quality readings that will trigger hybrid electric engines automatically to zero-emission running.

The technology used for this demonstration is termed as active geofencing and will be tested on a hybrid vehicle interface developed by Tevva Motors.

Dynniq, the Netherland-based developer of transportation network systems, will develop a decision-making engine by taking inputs from a range of city data such as live air quality information and real-time traffic conditions.

EarthSense Systems will monitor and upload the updated local air quality levels to the interface, which will be used by the participating Tevva vehicles to activate on-demand zero-emissions running instructions.

Cenex and the Transport Systems Catapult will assess the application, markets, business models, and scalability of the system with the intent to use this technology widely in Leeds, as well as potential UK Clean Air Zones.