Objective
Despite electric vehicles (EVs) are being promoted worldwide to decarbonize the transport sector and depollute city centers, the EVs industry is still facing several challenges which hampers the market deployment: 1) Technical: All cars are manufactured based on stamped steal-based chassis, making it very difficult to reduce the vehicle weight, which is the main hurdle for EVs. 2) Economic: Manufacturing lines are heavily automatized, hence with high capex and little employment. 3) Environment: The car manufacturing process has a huge environmental impact at each phase of the lifecycle (production, use, end of life).
SOFTCAR SA is a Swiss start-up, founded by a team of 3 experts in the field of EVs who is now bringing to the market a high performance, highly competitive 4-seater battery EV, which offers the lowest possible ecological footprint while offering the same safety and performance level as other EVs.
The Softcar paradigm shift in car conception and manufacturing translates into breakthrough economic added value and key product differentiation in three main areas:
1) Sustainable materials: The vehicle architecture is based on massive use of bio-plastics and advanced composite materials that reduce the vehicle weight by 2.5 compared to classical car.
2) Disruptive architecture: Softcar reduces the number of parts from 40,000 in classical EVs to 1,800, lowering the production costs from €15,000 for conventional EVs to €9,000 for Softcar.
3) Breakthrough manufacturing: There are only two automated process (Rotomoulding and GMT), implying that a low capex small-size plants can be viable from capacities of 5,000 vehicles per year (about 40 times lower than classical automotive industry).
The total capex requirement is €17 million, the pilot plant reaches capacity (5000 unit/year) 5 years after start of production, while the cumulated cash flow breaks even just after 2 years and reaches €88 million at 4th year, corresponding to an IRR of 132%.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.3.4. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.2.1.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
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H2020-EU.2.3.1. - Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-SMEInst-2016-2017
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1700 FRIBOURG
Switzerland
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.