Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the need to invest in research into universal interchangeable batteries as part of the transition to electric vehicles.

The government is supporting a wide range of research, development and scale-up of world-leading battery technology in the UK through the £318m Faraday Battery Challenge. The Faraday Battery Challenge aims to ensure the UK builds on its strengths and leads the world in the design and manufacture of electric vehicles. Challenges with interchangeable battery technologies include need to standardise battery size and location in a vehicle, requirement for more batteries than vehicles and concerns around safety. Trial programmes in other countries have failed in recent years and improving battery range and fast charging technology is reducing the commercial case for a battery swapping system. The technology could work well in countries with relatively low vehicle numbers and smaller vehicle types. We will keep this under review.