DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund drawdown five
Build the UK plant that makes zero emission vehicle technology at real volume.
The DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund pays for manufacturing capability, not research. Drawdown five shares up to £150 million across projects that engineer, build or convert a facility and prove it can make the thing at pilot or demonstration scale.
Grants run from £2.5 million to £20 million, and your project must have total eligible costs of at least £5 million. The government expects that matched by subs…
In scope: manufacturing facility and process development at pilot or demonstration scale for zero emission vehicle technologies — assembly, batteries and the wider supply chain. Your project must support growth, transition and resilience of the UK automotive supply chain and contribute to the UK's strategic aims, including the Industrial Strategy and the Automotive Council's roadmaps. The aim is to validate manufacturing capability and commercial viability and reach market entry at the targeted production volume.
Sign up free to see the funding breakdown
Sign up free to see the industries in scope
Sign up free to see the full eligibility
Sign up free to see how to apply
Sign up free to see what you submit
Sign up free to see the timeline
Sign up free to see where teams trip up
Guides for this application
All guides →Innovate UK Grants for Deeptech Startups
How UK deeptech startups should approach Innovate UK grants, including competition fit, R&D categories, collaboration, eligibility, budgets, and strategy.
DocumentsGrant Work Plan Template: Work Packages, Gantt, Milestones, and Risks
Use this grant work plan template to structure work packages, tasks, owners, deliverables, Gantt timing, dependencies, and risk registers.
Find grantsGovernment Grants for Startups: What Deeptech Founders Should Know
A practical guide to government grants for startups, including Grants.gov, SBIR/STTR, state programs, eligibility, fit, timelines, and when to apply.
More from Innovate UK
All grants from this funder →Advancing innovation in accelerated cancer diagnosis
🇬🇧Innovate UK · United Kingdom
Supporting clinical validation of early cancer diagnostic technologies
National Materials Innovation Programme: CR&D Rd1
🇬🇧Innovate UK · United Kingdom
Funds UK-registered businesses collaborating on industrial research into advanced materials, covering up to 70% of project costs from a £12 million pool.
UK-Singapore CRD 2026
🇬🇧Innovate UK · United Kingdom
Funding for UK-Singapore industrial research collaborations.
BridgeAI
🇬🇧Innovate UK · United Kingdom
Supports artificial intelligence adoption in agriculture, construction, creative, and transport sectors.
Eurostars Call 11 (UK)
🇬🇧Innovate UK · United Kingdom
Funds United Kingdom firms in multinational innovation consortia for export readiness.
Innovate UK Themed Competitions
🇬🇧Innovate UK · United Kingdom
Funds sector-themed innovation competitions in the United Kingdom for hydrogen, manufacturing, agri-tech, health, and AI.
Similar grants
Browse the directory →DRIVE35 Collaborate
🇬🇧APC UK · United Kingdom
Supports industry consortia advancing zero-emission vehicle technologies toward manufacturing commercialization.
Horizon Tandem PV Manufacturing Scale-Up
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds three €9.5M innovation projects that make high-efficiency tandem PV technologies reliable and ready for large-scale European manufacturing.
R&I in Support of the Clean Industrial Deal: Decarbonisation of Energy-Intensive Industries
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds €15–25M industrial demonstrators that make Europe’s energy-intensive production cleaner and commercially ready.
Horizon Beyond-State-of-the-Art Solar PV
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds three €12M innovation projects that scale efficient, reliable and resilient solar-PV manufacturing beyond today’s commercial technologies.
Horizon Flexible Battery Cell Manufacturing
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds two €18.9M projects to make lithium-ion and sodium-ion cell production cheaper, cleaner, flexible and ready for industrial scale-up.
Clean Technologies for Climate Action
🇪🇺European Commission · European Union
Funds eight €15–25M Innovation Actions that deploy clean technologies for a competitive, climate-neutral European industry.