Ricardo wins IMechE Crompton Lanchester medal for connected technologies

The Institution’s premier award for automotive engineering has been awarded for work on connected technologies which are helping to accelerate the wider consumer adoption of electric vehicles.

In recognition of its world-class expertise in electrified engineering research and development, world-class environmental, engineering and strategic consultancy Ricardo has been awarded the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Crompton Lanchester Medal for its connected technologies hybrid electric vehicle demonstrator, ConnectHEV.

With global OEMs seeking to accelerate the wider adoption of electric vehicles, Ricardo set out to develop a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle demonstrator which could showcase a range of connected technologies which are available to its automotive customers now. ConnectHEV demonstrates how innovative connected technologies and Ricardo’s systems integration approaches are successfully extending the range of electric and hybrid vehicles, improving vehicle efficiency, and reducing vehicle cost.

The Crompton Lanchester Medal was presented by Andrew Fraser and Tony Pixton of the IMechE Automobile Division to leading members of the Ricardo ConnectHEV team at Ricardo’s Shoreham Technical Centre in West Sussex, with several other members of the team based in the company’s Shanghai and Prague Technical Centres watching the presentation via a live video link.

Andrew Fraser, Chair of the IMechE’s Automobile Division said: “The Automobile Division Board was delighted to award the Crompton Lanchester Medal to Ricardo’s ConnectHEV team. Ricardo’s ConnectHEV project demonstrated significant innovation and engineering expertise in applying a broad range of tools and techniques and the Board was particularly impressed with the very significant fuel economy potential achieved without any hardware changes. The applications to all types of electric vehicles hybrid electric vehicle, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle or battery electric vehicle were also noted. We were impressed with the team’s highly impressive work, achieved during a period of challenging working conditions.”

Receiving the medal on behalf of Ricardo, Richard Gordon, Head of R&D said: “We are honoured to have won this prestigious award. For over 100 years, Ricardo has a distinguished track record in research and development. For the last 20 years, we have focused on developing our electrification solutions, winning customer projects and undertaking further research opportunities built around our technology aims. We provide exceptional levels of expertise in delivering leading edge and innovative, cross sector, sustainable products and solutions, helping our global customers increase efficiencies, achieve growth and create a cleaner and safer future. Receiving this recognition from the automotive industry for this work is highly motivating to our teams to do more and drive us forwards into the electrification space.”

The premier award of the IMechE’s Automobile Division, the Crompton Lanchester Medal is awarded to an individual or a team of people for an outstanding technical achievement. This may be a significant product launch, or research project, or other development in the field of automotive engineering. It can also be awarded for outstanding and continuous service to the Automobile Division over a number of years.

Company founder, Sir Harry Ricardo, was personally awarded the 1926 Lanchester Medal by the Institution of Automobile Engineers (IAutoE), the 1926-1927 Crompton Medal by the Institution of Automobile Engineers and the 1953 Watt Medal by IMechE. When IAutoE merged with IMechE to create the Automobile Division in 1947 the IAutoE’s medals were combined to create the Crompton Lanchester Medal.