UK, 28 February 2024: Somerset will be home to a new multi-billion-pound electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in the UK, it was confirmed today. Agratas, Tata Group’s global battery business, has confirmed that it will build a gigafactory on the Gravity Smart Campus near Bridgwater, Somerset.
New research reveals that battery manufacturing will be more energy-efficient in future because technological advances and economies of scale will counteract the projected rise in future energy demand.
Recent gigafactory announcements in the UK by AESC and Tata Group have built excitement about the potential to create a new, dynamic and highly skilled battery industry in the UK. The report finds that 270,000 UK jobs could be supported by the EV and battery industry to 2040.
To address these limitations, a number of next-generation battery technologies including high-nickel, silicon anode-based, lithium–sulfur, lithium–air, and solid-state batteries have been developed. However, the energy requirements and resulting greenhouse gas emissions are yet unknown, which could impact their future commercialization.
The global energy landscape is undergoing an evolution from fossil fuels to renewables and more sustainable sources. As growth in non-fossil energy continues to soar, the need for efficient energy storage is rising in parallel. Enter the battery – a powerful technology anchoring this global energy transition.
Despite the patchy slowdown in EV sales, demand for battery materials is booming. The Nysa plant, which opened in September 2022, is already expanding and a second factory is being built next door in a joint venture with PowerCo, a company which combines the Volkswagen Group’s battery activities.