The UK’s world-leading manufacturing industries will be boosted thanks to £211 million in new government funding for battery research and innovation
The UK’s world-leading manufacturing industries will be boosted thanks to £211 million in new government funding for battery research and innovation, Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg confirmed today (Friday 21 October).
The record funding uplift will be delivered through the Faraday Battery Challenge, which began in 2017 and supports world-class scientific technology development and manufacturing scale-up capability for batteries in the UK. It will help to seize on opportunities for private investment and economic growth in industries where powerful, fast charging batteries will be essential – such as domestic energy storage and electric vehicles.
The funding, from last year’s settlement, will be delivered between 2022 and 2025 by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) with support from the Faraday Institution, Innovate UK and the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC).
It will help the sector deliver 100,000 jobs in battery gigafactories and the battery supply chain by 2040. Supporting the scale-up of these technologies and unlocking further private investment supports the sustainable growth of the economy, which will boost tax revenues and put public services on a more secure footing for the longer term, helping improve life for people across the UK.
Speaking on a visit to the £130 million UKBIC, which is the UK’s centre of excellence in battery manufacturing, Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said:
The Faraday Battery Challenge combines:
The Challenge has supported over 140 organisations working across the UK, attracting over £400 million in further private sector investment. It has enabled the Faraday Institution, the UK’s independent battery research body, to unite 500 researchers across more than 25 universities to improve current and develop future battery technologies.
Faraday Battery Challenge Director Tony Harper said:
Felicity Buchan, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said:
UKBIC Managing Director Jeff Pratt said:
UKRI Chief Executive Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser said:
Along with the Challenge, the UK government is helping to deliver a world leading electric vehicle industry for the UK through the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF). Through the ATF the UK has secured major investments in battery production, including Envision AESC expanding their existing plant in Sunderland.
A further £4 million is also being announced through UKRI’s Driving the Electric Revolution Challenge to support skills, talent and training across Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD) manufacturing and supply chains. PEMD components are the parts that make things ‘go’, from cars to hairdryers, underpinning a wide range of high-value industries.
Notes to Editors
Faraday Battery Challenge
The Faraday Battery Challenge has been backed by £541 million since 2017. It is delivered by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation. It is making the UK a science superpower for batteries by supporting the UK’s world-class battery facilities and growing innovative businesses that are developing the battery supply chain for our future prosperity. Its aim is to build a high-tech, high-value, high-skill battery industry in the UK.
Projects previously backed by the Challenge include:
Cornish Lithium
Backing for Cornish Lithium Ltd, in the first of four pilot plants that will extract lithium from geothermal waters near Redruth. The firm also intends to recover lithium-laden mica deposits from old China clay pits in the county. Cornwall could produce a third of the UK’s lithium requirement for electric vehicle (EV) batteries within five years.
Nexeon
Backing for Nexon Ltd’s SUNRISE project, which looks to triple the energy density of Lithium-ion batteries, by using silicon-based anodes instead of conventional graphite ones. Nexeon is already supplying a number of Tier 1 global battery manufacturers and OEMs. Its latest investment funding round saw the firm secure $200 million to mass produce tens of thousands of metric tonnes annually of its silicon-based anode materials for use in rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries.
About the Faraday Institution
The Faraday Institution is the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage research, skills development, market analysis, and early-stage commercialisation. Bringing together expertise from universities and industry, the Faraday Institution endeavours to make the UK the go-to place for the research and development of new electrical storage technologies for both the automotive and wider relevant sectors.
The Faraday Institution is funded by the Faraday Battery Challenge at UK Research and Innovation. Headquartered at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, the Faraday Institution is a registered charity with an independent board of trustees.
About the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC)
The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) was opened in July 2021. The national battery manufacturing development facility provides the missing link between battery technology, which has proved promising at laboratory or prototype scale, and successful mass production.
Based in Coventry, UKBIC welcomes manufacturers, entrepreneurs, researchers and educators, and can be accessed by any organisation with existing or new battery technology – if that technology brings green jobs and prosperity to the UK.
In addition to funding from the Faraday Battery Challenge through UK Research and Innovation, UKBIC is part-funded through the West Midlands Combined Authority. The facility was delivered through a consortium of Coventry City Council, Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and WMG, at the University of Warwick, following a competition in 2018 led by the Advanced Propulsion Centre with support from Innovate UK.
Driving the Electric Revolution Challenge
Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD) technologies are what make things ‘go’. They are found in a wide range of places from cars, to solar panels, to mobile phones and in hairdryers. High-tech, high-value industries rely on them and a workforce skilled in their design and creation.
The Driving the Electric Revolution Challenge supports projects that that build awareness of PEMD and fill gaps in the UK’s workforce talent and training capabilities.