DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund

The DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund, delivered by the Advanced Propulsion Centre through the Innovation Funding Service, makes capital-intensive advanced-manufacturing grants for first-of-a-kind pilot and demonstration-scale production processes and facilities in zero-emission vehicle technologies. Eligible technology areas cover batteries, electric machines and drivetrains, power electronics, fuel cell systems, lightweighting materials and vehicle assembly; grant requests run GBP 2.5M to GBP 20M against total eligible project costs above GBP 5M, drawn from a GBP 150M allocation. The lead applicant must be a UK registered business of any size, private co-investment of 2:1 or better is required, and funding is capped at 50 percent of eligible costs for SMEs and 30 percent for large organisations; research organisations and academic institutions cannot lead. The fund uses rolling drawdown submission dates, and Drawdown 5 opened 10 August 2026 and closes 4 November 2026.