Cleantech Investor

First published in Cleantech magazine, January 2011. Copyright Cleantech Investor 2011

The Isle of Man is best known in biking circles for the TT Races. The enthusiasts converging on the island for the iconic event in June are now joined each year by a growing crowd of battery bike enthusiasts for the TT Zero Emissions race.

The TT Zero, open to electric bikes, is a much quieter affair than the petrol-fuelled races. The Isle of Man has also been quiet about its expertise in cleantech to date. That looks set to change – although the technology behind the bikes won’t get any louder! The Isle of Man has created the conditions for a 'cleantech cluster' – similar to the clusters it has created around other industries such as aerospace, commercial space projects and E-gaming. And the Department of Economic Development uses the TT Zero as a showcase for the island's capabilities in clean technology and to encourage enterprise and innovation.The Department of Economic Development is also able to provide opportunities to sponsor the TT Zero race and would welcome further applications from race competitors.

The TT Zero 2010 was won by MotoCzysz, an electric drive systems specialist from the US. The company’s E1pc experimental electric motorbike, which also won the e-Power Red Bull MotoGP in 2010, uses its D1g1tal Dr1ve – a system of matched integrated components including a motor, controller and proprietary cooling system, in an aluminium shell. The E1pc, which has ten 19.5 pound lithium polymer batteries and a top speed of 140 mph, was driven by Mark Miller from California. The 2009 race was won by Agni Z1 – and the Agni Racing team electric bikes (converted from a Suzuki GSXR 600), ridden by Robert Barber and Jenny Tinmouth, came in second and fourth in 2010.

The Isle of Man Mountain Course is a 37.733 miles (60.72 km) circuit based on public roads, which climbs from sea level to a high point of 422 metres (1,384 feet) above sea level – the 'Mountain Road'. The fastest lap in a Zero Emissions bike was 23 minutes 22.89 seconds – an average speed of 96.82 mph – achieved by MotoCzysz in 2010. Three teams achieved speeds of over 100 mph at the Sulby Speed Trap, with MotoCzysz by far the fastest at 135 mph. ManTTx, a local team, with a bike ridden by James McBride (who took third place overall in 2010), achieved the second fastest speed of 107.2 mph at Sulby.

Although there is no university on the island, the Isle of Man works closely with a number of UK universities which are encouraging innovation – with a view to attracting early stage university spinouts to relocate to the island, where they can take advantage of the favourable environment for incubation of technology, which includes beneficial tax treatment for their intellectual property.

University teams are prominent participants in the TT Zero, with teams from Kingston, Imperial College London and Brunel having entered previous races. The Department of Economic Development has created a new 'University Prize', which includes a cash component of £5,000, for the fastest university or college team in the 2011 race. The university teams will also be eligible to compete for a £10,000 prize which is on offer for the first team to complete a lap around the course at an average speed of 100 mph. The Department of Economic Development has also introduced the TT Zero 100 Club, which will recognise the first ten teams to record a 100 mph lap.

Other teams participating in 2010 included the Special Zero Emissions bike (ridden by Shaun Gilbert) and the Swedish Electric Racing Team (SERT), led by former motocross and road racing competitor Lars Nilsson. The SERT team bike, a modified Honda CBR600RR, was ridden by Chris Palmer – an Isle of Man resident and TT veteran. Mark Buckley rode the Ecolve team bike.

Ecolve, a start-up electric bike manufacturer, intends to forge even closer links with the Isle of Man. The company, which is raising funding to build a manufacturing plant in Jurby, Isle of Man, plans to launch three products: the ‘Bolt’ electric bike, based on the bike which competed in the TT Zero, the ‘Spark’ scooter, and the ’EcolvePower’ charging point. With help from the Isle of Man Department of Economic Development, it intends to establish two production lines to manufacture up to 500 units annually on the island.

A home-grown Isle of Man cleantech company which evolved out of the TT heritage (the petrol version – before the TT Zero) is Bladon Jets. Founded by the Bladon brothers, who previously worked for biking customers including the Honda and Yamaha factory motorcycle racing teams, Bladon Jets has developed micro turbine technology. The company was appointed to lead a consortium, which includes Jaguar Land Rover, to work on a £2.2 million UK Technology Strategy Board-funded project to develop an ultra-lightweight, gas turbine-powered electric vehicle range extender.

A jet turbine range extender is not a new idea: the General Motors EV1 was a series hybrid vehicle with a gas turbine engine! But Bladon Jets has developed (and patented) the first axial-flow micro jet engine, an extremely light engine. Although turbine engines are not so fuel-efficient as piston engines, Courtenay Heading, the Bladon Jets Business Development Director, estimates that between 400 and 500 pounds of weight can be eliminated by replacing a piston engine with a micro jet engine, dramatically improving the overall system efficiency of the vehicle. Heading says the company is approaching the turbine as an on-board power generator for exceptional use – as an “insurance policy” to cover occasional journeys when the range of the battery is not sufficient. A range extender must be reliable: with just one moving part, the reliability of a turbine engine compares favourably to that of a piston engine.

Bladon Jets has been financed by Isle of Man angel investors. The focus at present is on cutting production times. Future strategy is to manufacture key components on the island, while licensing the technology internationally.

Automotive is perhaps the highest profile cleantech subsector in which the island’s cleantech cluster has expertise, but the Isle of Man has much more to offer. On the next page we profile Prospero, a company which is building highly efficient datacentres – another subsector which is growing in importance. The Isle of Man might not shout loudly about its cleantech credentials – but the growth of the TT Zero is set to focus attention on the innovations emanating from the island.

Isle of Man Company Profile: Prospero