Robert Evans: chemist seeking the formula for a green motor industry

As chief executive of government agency Cenex, Robert Evans is the man charged with the task of driving low-carbon motoring in the UK.

By Roland GribbenPublished: 12:01AM BST 10 Sep 2009

"We need to take the technology through the development phase and avoid struggling at the commercial stage," Evans says
The biomethane tool kit is food and drink to Robert Evans. So is the anaerobic digestion facility. In between comes the "Valley of Death". They are part and parcel of the business world inhabited by Evans, chief executive of Cenex (shorthand for a centre of excellence), an industry-based agency supported by government and charged with promoting "UK market development and competitiveness in low-carbon and fuel technologies for transport applications".
In short, producing a "green" motor industry. It is a tall order. Evans, a chemist by training, is predictably enthusiastic about being somewhere in the centre of the drive to produce the components and end products to achieve two objectives – the transformation of the motor industry and the improvement of the environment.
The role of transport in the green equation has moved up a gear with the latest climate change report implying the motorist will have to make a bigger contribution to achieving the Government's carbon reduction targets.
"We have an active engagement with over 100 companies, particularly on electric vehicles," Evans says. "For manufacturers it is a very disruptive technology. They want to know whether the customer out there will buy them and at what price. There's also uncertainty about the infrastructure needed to support the vehicles.
"There are a huge number of unknowns but we are on a shared journey of uncertainty. There's an opportunity to carve out a strategic niche market for electric city cars but there's uncertainty associated with the investment at a time when industry is struggling and needs to be investing in research and development for future projects."
Evans remains optimistic that the industry can achieve the transformation needed to keep pace with the changes in the market place and be internationally competitive. Manufacturing may be in foreign hands but Evans is encouraged by a strong engineering and design community that has demonstrated its ability to adapt.
Historically, Britain has ranked high in the innovation and development stages of products and technologies but has failed in the market place – hence the "Valley of Death".
"The challenge we have in the UK is to take the technology through the development phase and avoid struggling at the commercial stage." Evans says. "We need to bridge the 'Valley of Death'. We need to put in place the right kind of support structure to aid industry to develop and get the products to market."
He expands: "We can revitalise the motor industry by recognising the trends and supporting those companies wanting to position themselves in the market. We can also make the UK industry a world leader in low-carbon vehicle technology with an active supply chain. Certainly there is tremendous scope for making the UK a springboard for supplying the European market."
Another tall order. A mixture of financial pump priming and support as well as lobbying are the main mechanisms used by Evans and his team to fulfil the Cenex remit.
Evans, Portsmouth-born and Redcar-raised, with a career steeped in the environment and fuel cells, enthuses: "It's quite exciting to be helping to drive policy, push innovation and move industry forward and seeing the players innovate."
Eighteen years with Johnson Matthey, one of the business backers behind Cenex, has given Evans a solid "green" grounding. His middle management role involved him in market research and development with the emphasis on transport, including low-carbon vehicles and vehicle emissions. His employers used him as an "ambassador'' working with government and local authorities which meant he was ideally equipped for the Cenex assignment when industrial innovation moved higher up the Government agenda.
Cenex started life in 2005 with £6.5m of government funding, initially running programmes for what is now the Department for Business but its coverage has extended to other parts of Whitehall and the regional development agencies. Enter the biomethane tool kit, information provided to councils about what is needed to produce renewable transport fuel from the anaerobic digestion of organic waste or energy crops.
Support is currently being provided for five main programmes, including demonstration projects for low-carbon vehicles, grants covering the infrastructure needed for electric vehicles and the expansion of natural gas filling stations. Cenex is involved in missionary work to try introduce electric vehicle van fleets in businesses such as Royal Mail and Marks & Spencer.
"We are removing the cost barrier for them and making it easier for them to buy an electric or low-carbon van. The only barrier is the acceptance of new technology into their operations. We are the spanner to unlock the potential for public procurement so it pulls through. We're looking at evolutionary and revolutionary technologies. We're seeing a lot of investment in fuel cells while battery electric vehicles benefit from the improvements resulting from better mobile phone technology due to lithium batteries. This has brought electric vehicles back into the picture."
There is much more in the picture (Cenex has a role in the Government's industrial carbon strategy), as well as uncertainty about what can and will emerge from the dark room. Cenex is one of those agencies beloved of governments to provide a catalytic dimension to issues or policies, created with high hopes of achieving or nudging change and frequently failing to deliver. Evans is naturally conscious of the expectations and the road blocks, but he is tackling the challenge with an almost boyish enthusiasm: "Both government officials and industry are very much adopting a proactive can do attitude. There's consensus about what needs to be done."
He feel he has adapted to the cultural change between private and public sector. "It's my comfort zone (as a Newcastle United supporter he needs one). Industry makes life very simple. It has a simple metric, which is money, and money simplifies complicated positions. In the public sector it's much more holistic thinking. It involves looking around a problem from every perspective, thinking about the large number of stakeholders."
But the inevitable frustrations exist. "There's never enough time to keep up with the pace of developments. There are difficulties in launching new products in the market but it's hugely rewarding."
Robert Evans' CV
Born 1965
Status Married, two daughters
Education MSc Imperial College London, MA Leeds University, BSc (Hons) King's College London
Work 1987-2005 Johnson Matthey (1987-89 market research executive, 1989-96 senior market analyst, 1996-98 fuel cells market development manager, 1988-2003 marketing manager, 2003-05 public and government affairs director), 2005- chief executive Cenex
Play Loves food, cricket, Newcastle United and studies Greek society as a nice antidote to work