Cheshire fuel cell company Acal Energy has tied up with Gordon Murray Design in Surrey to design a fuel cell car.
The 12 month project is funded by the government's Technology Strategy Board under its Low Carbon Vehicle programme.
"The study will be led by Gordon Murray Design, and combines Acal's Flowcath technology with their iStream concept, which allows for fast, low cost production of light weight vehicles," said Acal.
FlowCath is a pumped liquid catalyst for fuel cells that replaces precious metal catalyst.
iStream is a re-think of the traditional automotive manufacturing process, assembling components onto a chassis, then applying pre-painted body panels last.