Perth firm helping Bentley with e-drive axle

Australian advanced materials company Talga has announced that it will be supporting the development of a new electrified axle for Bentley Motors. It is not yet known whether this will feature in an updated plug-in hybrid Bentayga SUV that is currently under development.

Talga made the announcement following confirmation that it would receive £224,000 ($A415,000) in government funding for the project from Innovate UK and the UK Office for Low Emissions Vehicles (OLEV).

Innovate UK and OLEV have established a scheme called “IDP 15: the road to zero-emissions vehicles”, which aims to back related high-value research and development programmes. The new high-performance e-axle project, led by the UK’s Advanced Electric Machines Research and aided by Talga, will receive funding totalling $A6.7 million from the IDP 15 scheme.

Talga, headquartered in West Perth and with operations in Sweden, Germany and the UK, specialises in graphene- and graphite-enhanced products that are ideal for motor and battery systems.

For this project, Talga will develop and supply graphene materials for use in creating light and high-performance aluminium windings for electric motors that will outperform existing copper-based solutions.

Talga managing director Mark Thompson said the advancement as potentially “pave the way for opportunities to replace copper wire in many large-scale applications globally”.

According to reports, funding provided to Talga represents 70 per cent of its contribution to the project – but the company will retain both existing and arising related intellectual. Opportunities provided by the consortium, as well as any developments derived from it, may subsequently help Talga secure a strong position in the supplier market for electrified vehicles.