£4.6 million investment in the UK electric vehicle supply chain

17 September 2024 The Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) is pleased to announce seven new Feasibility Studies focused on strengthening the UK’s EV supply chain capabilities, with a total investment of £4.6 million.

Delivered through the APC on behalf of the Department for Business & Trade, the projects will be funded by £2.3 million of government grants from the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) matched with industry funding.

The ATF was created to electrify Britain’s automotive sector and protect its competitiveness in the global market. It enables the creation of feasibility studies into the viability of projects for scale-up, as well as providing capital grants to help de-risk and unlock further private investment. 

APC Automotive Transformation Director Julian Hetherington said,

“This group of projects aims to demonstrate the opportunity to build a robust UK based EV and battery supply chain, enabling the transition to clean-automotive technologies. ATF grants help to unlock further private investment, which accelerate the UK’s growing zero-emission vehicle sector.”

Successful applicants include:

Anaphite, Bristol

Adept-UK:  The study will produce an investment case for the commercialisation and scale- up of Anaphite’s innovative dry coating precursor technology. Dry coating of battery electrodes is less energy intensive than traditional wet coatings and more efficient.

Imerys British Lithium (IBL), St Austell

Validation of commercial opportunities for large-scale lithium production in the UK, using IBL’s highly sustainable, novel method of extracting high-purity lithium from micaceous granite.

Talga Anode, Cambridge

UK RELOAD aims to validate the case to establish an innovative lithium-ion battery anode manufacturing plant in the UK designed to support the circular economy by extracting and repurposing recycled graphite from used batteries and battery-production scrap to use in new battery production.

Altilium, Plymouth

The validation and commercialisation of a new UK greenfield site capable of processing 90,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of end-of-life EV lithium-ion batteries, gigafactory scrap and electronic waste, enabling 30,000tpa of cathode active materials to be recovered and supplied back into the EV battery industry by 2028.

Nyobolt, Cambridge

Project GRMP: UK Validation of high-volume production for Nyobolt’s proprietary anode material. Establishing this capacity in the UK would represent a key piece of the UK’s automotive battery supply chain and enable the commercialisation of Nyobolt’s ultra-fast-charging battery technology, capable of reducing vehicle charging from hours to minutes.

FluoRok, Oxford

Biz-Fluor-Bat:  The project aims at developing a detailed business and project plan to support future investment in a new UK-based manufacturing unit for LiPF6, a key material in the Li-ion battery chemical supply chain. LiPF6 is the main Li-ion battery electrolyte salt and is of critical importance as it represents the majority of the materials cost of the electrolyte formulation.

Electrified Automation, Bridgwater

EARTH (Electrified Automated motor Range in Traction & Hydraulic systems): the project aims to expand existing product offerings to ensure compatibility with a range of EDU components, enabling continued growth in the off-highway market and potentially generating substantial investment into UK manufacturing facilities.