Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to push forward UK EV battery production

The investment of £120 million from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund is set to help the UK become a “world leader” in the development and production of electric vehicle batteries.

Announced by the energy secretary Greg Clark, £80 million will be invested into the UK’s first automotive battery manufacturing development facility that will be located in the West Midlands, being created by Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership with the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) following a competition led by the Advanced Propulsion Centre, supported by Innovate UK/

The new facility will allow the UK to develop the processes required to manufacture pioneering battery technology here in the UK at a high-volume production rate.

Around £40 million of grant funding through the Innovate UK run Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund innovation competitions will help make UK businesses a world leader in battery technology.

Twnty-seven projects were funded involving 66 organisations covering key technologies such as the development of battery materials and cell manufacturing, design and production of modules and packs including advances in thermal management and battery management systems, and recycling and recyclability of battery packs.

This builds on the announcement last month by Mr Clark of The Faraday Institution, a new, multi-million pound research institute to drive and accelerate fundamental research in developing battery technologies, and its translation, funded from the ISCF through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The Faraday Battery Challenge will develop safe, cost effective, durable, lighter weight, high performing and recyclable batteries in the UK which will power the next generation of electric vehicles.

Business and energy secretary, Greg Clark said: “Battery technology is one of the most game-changing forms of energy innovation and it is one of the cornerstones of our ambition, through the Industrial Strategy and the Faraday Challenge, to ensure that the UK leads the world, and reaps the economic benefits, in the global transition to a low carbon economy.

“The new facility, based in Coventry and Warwickshire, will propel the UK forward in this thriving area, bringing experts from academia and industry together to deliver innovation and R&D that will further enhance the West Midlands’ international reputation as a cluster of automotive excellence.”

The next round of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Faraday Battery competition will open 22 January 2018 and close 28 March.