The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) has secured £38m of funding to upgrade the facility including a new flexible scale-up line will bridge the gap between UKBIC’s existing volume industrialisation line and kilogramme scale demonstrator lines available elsewhere.

The new capability, which is expected to be operational during 2025, will provide battery developers with an increasingly cost-effective route to market that will enable companies to move from research and development through to large-scale production, without having to use overseas facilities.

A secondary electrode line will offer new modular equipment capacity for coating, drying and calendering of electrodes to allow more innovative processing methods to be developed and trialled alongside existing customer scale-up activities.

The funding, announced in November’s Autumn Statement, is being provided by UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) £610m Faraday Battery Challenge, a national investment programme which is delivered by Innovate UK.

Sean Gilgunn, UKBIC’s MD said: “This latest funding announcement is fantastic news for UKBIC and the battery industry. The investment in the new equipment and capability will mean that many more customers will be able to use the facility seamlessly develop battery manufacturing through to large-scale demonstration.”

---