Series 8 – Episode 8 – Building the UK’s first battery Gigaplant

Britishvolt has the aspiration to build the UK’s first, end-to-end Gigafactory – designing and manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles.

The company selected a site up in the northeast of England which was previously a coal fire power station. With 93 hectares of space, permission was granted around July/August last year to build.

Threlfall said: “Battery manufacturing is very much a linear end-to-end process, using specialised equipment and a very clean environment. So much of battery manufacturing id by nature automated and we’re looking at improving that automation.”

Britishvolt has partnered with a number of bodies in the UK, such as the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in Coventry, the Faraday Institute and Warwick University and it’s that expertise that has helped the company get to where it is today.

Threlfall continues: “R&D is really important to us – we’re looking to open our own R&D centre in the Midlands to make sure we’re satisfying current demands but also future ones.

“In May this year, we announced a £200 million investment in a scale-up line in Birmingham – a 24,000m2 facility, not a Gigaplant, but it’s pretty big. The reason for this that we can really prove our new technologies from product to process.”

Threlfall goes on to speak about how the company is engaging with young people in the area, how important collaborations and partnerships are in helping to drive the industry forward and the future of the UK battery industry over the next five to 10 years.

To hear more about Britishvolt, its plans for a UK Gigaplant and much more, you can listen to Electronic Specifier’s interview with David Threlfall on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.