Mayor launches £50m electric vehicle jobs fund

A £50m fund is being established to help West Midlands automotive firms win contracts and create jobs in the electric vehicle sector.

The West Midlands Supplier Readiness and Transformation Fund will offer grants of between £250,000 and £3m from April, with companies required to match at least half the funding privately.

The West Midlands Combined Authority hopes the programme could drive £100m of investment in total.

Mayor Richard Parker said he had secured the money from government as part of his plan to keep the region's motor industry at the forefront of the shift to electrification.

The region is currently home to about 1,000 automotive companies employing more than 30,000 people.

"We are the birthplace of the UK car industry," Parker said.

"Now, more than 100 years after petrol cars first rolled off the Daimler production line in Coventry, we are powering towards a new era of electrification.

"Government is backing our flair for car building and innovation because it knows a successful West Midlands automotive sector is crucial to the wider British economy."

The fund will run for four years as part of the government's DRIVE35 initiative, which aims to strengthen UK supply chains as the country moves towards its net zero by 2050 mission.

It will be discussed by the West Midlands Combined Authority's Investment Board on Monday.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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