Research Projects: Roadmapping and technology reviews

Roadmapping and technology Review
Led by University of Strathclyde

The FEMM Hub has an aim of putting UK Manufacturing at the forefront of the electrification revolution. That electrification revolution is being accelerated by the global drive towards decarbonisation and the replacement of incumbent combustion based technologies for power generation and transportation with electrically powered alternatives. This transformation is the subject of legislation through the 2019 Climate Change Act, which mandates the transition to net zero by 2050 in the UK. In this document and the analysis which underpins it, the FEMM Hub investigators, researchers and industrial partners have aimed to explore what this transition to net zero means for future electrical machines manufacture, and to use this timebound driver as the end point of a roadmap. The transition to net zero creates a set of requirements on the electrical machines industry. 

Through the FEMM Hub Roadmap and the analysis which underpins it, the FEMM Hub investigators, researchers and industrial partners have aimed to explore what this transition to net zero means for future electrical machines manufacture, and to use this time-bound driver as the end point of a roadmap. The transition to net zero creates a set of requirements on the electrical machines industry. 

While it is clear that there are many uncertainties due to the development of future products, business models, and behavioural responses to the net zero challenge, we can begin to articulate a set of issues around material supply and demand and sustainability, which have been initiated by the hub and which need to be extended through future research. 

• Post launch of the hub, a cross cutting theme on circular economy was initiated. It is essential that this focus is maintained and embedded across the programme. 

• Identifying sector-based demand for electrical machines is subject to large sources of uncertainty, and therefore attempts to determine likely criticalities in terms of material supply is at least equally difficult. There would be value in instigating a focused activity with a view to providing a flexible / dynamic model material supply and demand based on available assumptions. 

• Irrespective of the set of planning assumptions made, it seems inevitable that demand for high performance electrical machines is likely to increase aggressively in the coming years. Future manufacturing needs to be capable of dealing with this growth, and of being flexible and adaptable to the uncertainty in demand. 

NEED 1: Make machines better so they perform better 

NEED 2: Make manufacture more efficient 

NEED 3: Secure supply of critical materials 

NEED 4: Flexibility and scalability to meet demand 

The FEMM Hub roadmap is built on an assessment of technical drivers for potential machine and manufacturing improvements. 

This analysis has allowed us to develop a combined future product and future factory model, and to track specific areas of current, planned and required research in a structured manner.  

Next Steps At the 2023 FEMM Hub Conference, Roadmap lead Professor Michael Ward discussed progress and next steps with delegates. Building on the roadmap we feel it is important to maintain focus and attention on some of the key risks on the journey to decarbonisation. 

These include: 

Materials and supply chain resilience
Jobs and prosperity (national and regional)
Technology leadership
Triple bottom-line for electrical machines