APC launches competition to support UK’s first battery manufacturing development facility

• Key industrialisation element of Faraday Challenge to develop UK’s EV supply chain
• New facility will allow suppliers to undertake scale-up of new battery technology for production
• Marking a major step forward in ensuring the UK has capability to become a global leader in the development and production of electric vehicles

The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) has launched a competition to facilitate funding of the UK’s first automotive battery manufacturing development centre, in conjunction with Innovate UK. The funding opportunity is a major step forward in ensuring the UK becomes a global leader in the development and production of electric vehicles (EVs).

The new facility, which will be funded through the £246 million Faraday Challenge, will allow pioneering battery technology to be scaled up suitable for high-volume production. This will enable the British EV battery supply chain to increase its capabilities, and attract global OEMs and suppliers to develop new technology in the UK. The project is expected to create a number of automotive supply chain jobs, in addition to the 19,000 already protected and created by APC projects since 2013, as the UK gears up for an electric future.

Garry Wilson, Business Development Director, APC, said

The UK automotive industry is extremely innovative and this facility will enable future battery technologies to be scaled up for high-volume production. The new National Battery Manufacturing Development facility will be a national asset and the first of its kind being open to all UK located organisations to develop manufacturing processes for their concept ready battery technologies at production rates appropriate to ‘giga’ factories. The objective is that these processes can transfer to UK high volume battery manufacturing facilities helping to establish the UK as a centre for Battery research, development and manufacture.

The Faraday Challenge is a government-funded initiative to develop a number of capabilities in the UK EV battery supply chain. The Automotive Council has set several targets for the Faraday Challenge to meet by 2035, as follows:

• Reduce battery cell cost from £100/kWh to £38/kWh
  Double a battery cell’s energy density, from 250Wh/kg to 500Wh/kg
• Increase a battery cell’s coldest operating temperature from -20°C to -40°C, and hottest operating temperature from 60°C to 80°C
• Improve a battery pack’s recyclability from 10-50% to 95%

The new battery facility is one of three projects under the Faraday Challenge.