An Eaglescliffe firm’s successful bid for EU funding could see Teesside become a worldwide hub for electric vehicle (EV) charging - but the project was almost shelved.
Carroll & Meynell has been handed 50,000 euros from EU fund Horizon 2020 Fund to help take its groundbreaking EV charger to market.
The transformer and coil manufacturer, based at Durham Lane Industrial Park, has come up with a patented prototype that charges up to 10 vehicles at once.
It’s the only North-east company - and one of just 185 out of 2,600 projects Europe-wide - to succeed in the Horizon 2020 bidding process.
If it’s successful, the company will go on to bid for a “very significant” sum to put the charger into production - with potential for orders around the globe.
The company, which employs around 110 staff, is seeing interest from motorway service station operators, taxi firms and commercial fleets for the technology.
Owner Mike Meynell said the project had been shelved, until product development contractor PERA contacted the company.
He said: “We’ve brought in consultants to prepare the bid for a very substantial amount of money to get the technology to market.
“With our concept, there’s nothing in the marketplace that’s comparable to what we are proposing.
“There are EV chargers that charge a single vehicle - but ours charges up to 10 different styles of vehicle at once.
“Motorists pull in, have a break and their vehicle is fully charged when they come back. There’s a big interest from taxi firms.
“There could be one in every service station in the country.
“If it happens, it will be a very big project for the area.
“We’ve done a lot of work already in developing the prototype, this goes back about three years.
“We were knocked back for funding - and put the project on the shelf, but PERA came back and said they thought we stood a good chance this time round and could they help us prepare for the next bid.
“The transformer element of the job would be made at our existing factory, then the product would go into assembly at another site.”
Carroll and Meynell, which was established in 1979, turned over £10m this year and is on track to double in size; Chancellor George Osborne praised the company as a “local success story” when he visited last July.
Mr Meynell added: “We are heading in the right direction, and that’s without this EV project.”
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