Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with car manufacturers in the UK on creating a battery gigafactory to make the UK less dependent on essential materials which are currently sourced abroad.

The Government is in regular dialogue with car manufacturers in the UK on a range of opportunities to support the transition to zero emission vehicles and to new supply chains, including batteries.

The UK is a highly attractive location for battery manufacturing. It is home to Europe’s first volume automotive battery production facility at Sunderland, owned by Envision AESC. In April 2019, the Advanced Propulsion Centre published a report showing the strength of the UK chemicals and materials supply chain for batteries, representing a £4.8bn a year supply chain opportunity by 2030.

Through our Industrial Strategy and landmark Automotive Sector Deal, we are placing the UK at the forefront of new automotive technology development. The Sector Deal which was developed in partnership with the industry, working through the Automotive Council, includes a joint ambition to establish battery manufacturing a scale, a “gigafactory”, in the UK. Central to this, government has committed £274m to the Faraday Battery Challenge (FBC) to help businesses in the UK lead the world in the design, development and manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles.

Under the FBC government has invested £108m in the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) which will open in 2020 and provide a state-of-the-art pilot facility to test new cell technology. UKBIC will play a key role in laying the groundwork to secure a battery gigafactory. It will do this by allowing collaborative R&D by UK cell manufacturers, battery pack assemblers and car makers to take place, proving out cell chemistries, formats and manufacturing processes at industrial rates.

This is an essential step to allow UK companies to quickly develop their capabilities to manufacture batteries, scale up and get them to market.