Engineering news
The money will be delivered through the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Faraday Battery Challenge, which began in 2017 and supports cutting edge research and the expansion of battery manufacturing in the UK.
The new funding “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,” a government announcement said.
The sector could provide 100,000 jobs in battery gigafactories and the supply chain by 2040, the announcement added.
The Faraday Battery Challenge combines research and development – to reduce battery weight and cost, increase energy and power, and ensure reliability and recyclability – ‘collaborative business-led innovation’, and manufacturing scale-up and skills development.
The challenge has supported more than 140 organisations so far, attracting over £400m in further private sector investment.
Previous projects backed by the challenge include Cornish Lithium, which aims to extract lithium from geothermal waters near Redruth, and Nexon’s Sunrise project, which hopes to triple the energy density of lithium-ion batteries by using silicon-based anodes.
The funding will be delivered between 2022 and 2025 with support from the Faraday Institution, Innovate UK and the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC).
“This new funding allows us to strengthen the foundation we’ve created by consolidating and building on the UK’s position to become a battery science superpower,” said challenge director Tony Harper.
“We now have an opportunity to ensure that our national industrialisation infrastructure remains world leading in this fast-evolving, critical ‘net zero’ technology.
“With the support of the challenge, the £130m UKBIC in Coventry opened three years ahead of its nearest European competition. The centre provides the link between battery research and successful mass production. So far UKBIC has supported over 140 UK battery developers, working on more than 80 research and innovation projects, to successfully scale their products to market.”
A further £4m was also 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.
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