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2 minute read

Works starts on new Artemis factory in Scotland

Work has begun on a new manufacturing plant outside Edinburgh which will create new jobs – and enable Scotland to become a world-leader in a low-carbon technology which will radically reduce fuel use and emissions in off-road vehicles, trucks and trains.

Last month Danish tech giant Danfoss took a majority share in Scots hydraulic specialists Artemis Intelligent Power – and work has started on their new £multi-million facility, to be built alongside Artemis’ existing Loanhead base.

The new 1500 square metre plant will manufacture high-tech digital hydraulic pumps and motors for off-road vehicles – utilising Artemis’s Digital Displacement technology – where it is estimated they will reduce vehicle emissions by more than half.

Work has started on a new multi-million-pound manufacturing plant in Loanhead, near Edinburgh / Picture: Danfoss Artemis

 

The project will create more than 30 skilled jobs initially, and Danfoss predicts the export-led business will be worth £100 million annually within a decade, with up to 200 further jobs to come.

Eric Bretey, Director, Digital Displacement at Danfoss, said: “Our first goal is for Artemis technology to be a key component in the $3.5 billion off-road vehicle hydraulic machinery market. Vehicle manufacturers are asking for reliable, cost-effective solutions to reduce environmental impact and increase productivity, and Digital Displacement technology will provide just that.

“We estimate the emissions reduction of each Digital Displacement excavator will be the equivalent to taking 18 diesel family cars off the road. It is a technology which increases efficiency, reduces cost and pays for itself very quickly,”

Earlier this year, a consortium comprising Danfoss and Artemis secured £11 million from the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK to help develop Digital Displacement technology, alongside Scottish firm Robbie Fluid Engineering.

Bretey concluded.“The support of the Advanced Propulsion Centre has been an important catalyst in our collaboration in the off-road sector and underscores our decision to make this major investment in the UK. In the years ahead, these pumps will become a core component in any off-road machine which utilises hydraulic power, and there is enormous potential in other sectors too.”

Artemis Managing Director Niall Caldwell added: “It’s not enough to invent new technologies in the UK – we also need to manufacture here and export around the world, and this is what this Danfoss investment will enable. We are also very grateful to the Advanced Propulsion Centre for their support and to Scottish Enterprise for their backing over many years.

“Our technology was first developed in the University of Edinburgh and we have successfully piloted Digital Displacement in trains, trucks, wind turbines and industry, and in each sector it offers massive potential to increase efficiency and reduce cost.

“In the coming months and years we will help Danfoss develop commercial products for each of these sectors, but today the focus is on the off-road market.

“Ultimately, the Digital Displacement off-road vehicles of the future will have smaller engines, be cheaper to run and use less than half the energy – whether that energy comes from fossil fuel, hydrogen, biogas or batteries. It is a technology that pays for itself, requires no sales subsidy and will make a very positive impact on the environment.”

(l-r) Niall Caldwell and Eric Bretey / Picture: Danfoss Artemis/Colin Hattersley