Britishvolt is to build a £200m battery scale-up facility in the UK’s West Midlands, which will enable the company to ramp up cells that are production ready to be manufactured in larger volumes at its Northumberland Gigaplant, as well as create upwards of 150 jobs.
Britishvolt has already developed pre-A battery samples at WMG in Warwick and is scaling up its unique A-Sample cell formulations at UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in Coventry. This new £200 million investment, coupled to the unique regional battery expertise, enables Britishvolt to develop new formats and formulations helping to make both higher performance and more affordable cells for the world’s future electric cars & commercial vehicles.
The West Midlands is already a “golden triangle” of international battery excellence with the Warwick Manufacturing Group, Advanced Propulsion Centre and UK Battery Industrialisation Centre. This new investment and commitment to the region will further unlock the huge economic potential of the UK’s world-class battery cell ecosystem.
Paul Franklin, property director, Britishvolt said: “This is another important milestone for Britishvolt, UK plc and its world class automotive industry. The UK’s battery ecosystem is a global leader in integrated technology development and industrialization with the Warwick Manufacturing Group, Faraday Institution, UK Battery Industrialisation Centre and the Advanced Propulsion Centre. I am delighted to see Britishvolt lead the UK’s journey into re-industrialization with the first full-scale battery Gigaplant. The new scale-up facilities announced today will help the UK build on its home-grown battery intellectual property and level up the country ready for the energy transition.”
Hams Hall is destined to become a center of excellence for all things EV/electrification, with major automakers close by. The facility will complement the Britishvolt value proposition for customers at Cambois, Northumberland and support the smooth startup of Gigaplant operations in 2024.
Practical completion of the development is anticipated in July with fit out and equipment installation to be undertaken through to end Q3, 2023.
Britishvolt’s collaborations with academia, industry and private enterprise will also help transition the UK from fossil fuels to a low carbon, battery-based electric future.
Britishvolt has already confirmed MoUs with Lotus Cars and Aston Martin Lagonda, which, alongside other commitments to be announced shortly, have cumulative demand in excess of 7GWh in 2024 and 2025, and set the stage for the full 38GWh factory capacity that will be supplied annually from its Gigaplant site in Northumberland.
The release of an official A-sample battery cell to customers, which is scheduled in 2022, will help to further accelerate commitments.
