Disruptive technologies

Explore the developments that have the potential to disrupt vehicle propulsion.

The challenge

Not all development opportunities have the potential to majorly contribute to vehicle propulsion and substantial novelty. Our aim is to identify those that do, and explore how they could impact the new age of sustainable transportation. 

Our response

By combining a ‘pull’ from engineering knowledge with a ‘push’ from material science, we are investing in areas that show real potential – and expect to see new developments. 

For us, the emphasis is on super-insulation for electrical machines, novel blade-root fixing arrangements for turbines, system-wide exploitation of liquid hydrogen, impulse-based gearing for almost-direct-drive propulsors and thermoelectric recovery of additional energy from engines.

Programme lead 

Seamus Garvey, Professor of Dynamics

Explore our disruptive technology projects