A £285,000 Scottish Enterprise grant is providing even greater mileage for a Livingston company’s navigation technology
Battery life is everything if you drive an Electric Vehicle (EV). It is essential to follow an optimum route to get the most miles per charge. Sparking an innovative idea, Route Monkey is developing technology to enable EV drivers to get the best from their battery-powered cars, vans and trucks.
EVs have a limited battery capacity (range) and defined recharge rates, which can restrict their distance travelled and productivity.
An innovative solution from a Scottish technology SME
Based in Livingston, Route Monkey’s system features software which plans the best routes for an EV, gives turn-by-turn directions via a smartphone navigation app, and identifies charging points en route. The system from the Scottish technology SME will accurately recalculate routes and plan in extra recharging time, depending on journey conditions.
Crucial to future growth
The support and the funding from Scottish Enterprise are crucial to our future growth plans. Thanks to this grant we are able to accelerate research and development for a innovative electric vehicle journey planner and associated technology.
Colin Ferguson
How Scottish Enterprise’s R&D grant helped Route Monkey
Scottish Enterprise’s R&D grant of £285,451 played a pivotal part in getting Route Monkey’s tech project off the ground, contributing to the total project cost of £749,931. This grant will boost the firm’s R&D programme, which will be primarily ploughed into the new technology, including added navigation and data logging capabilities, while also creating four new permanent high quality jobs. The ultimate aim is to deliver the system as a Software as a Service (SAAS) to the market as quickly as possible.
Colin Ferguson, CEO of Route Monkey, said: “The support and the funding from Scottish Enterprise are crucial to our future growth plans. Thanks to this grant we are able to accelerate research and development for a innovative electric vehicle journey planner and associated technology. We believe this has huge worldwide market potential.”
Scottish Enterprise funding can help grow your tech business
Route Monkey is a prime example of an ambitious tech business in Scotland that has benefited from Scottish Enterprise financial support. Jim Watson, Director of Innovation and Enterprise Services at Scottish Enterprise summed up: “Innovative companies like Route Monkey play a key role in enabling Scotland to switch to lower carbon transport and develop leading-edge technologies that we can export to the world.”
Scottish Enterprise is committed to helping a wide range of sectors including tech businesses to develop new products, processes and services so they can grow their operation and capture new markets.
Technology and advanced engineering are key drivers of the Scottish economy. Together, engineering, electronics and IT businesses employ nearly 150,000 people, contributing over £10bn a year to Scotland’s economy (almost 10% of national output).
Do you want to develop new or existing products, processes or services in your company?
Discover more about our R&D grant