24/10/2022
For anyone looking for good news from the UK government: battery research funding has been announced.
The funding announcement is for an additional £211 million, and will be delivered by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) supported by the Faraday Institution, Innovate UK and the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) to support companies in the sector to deliver 100,000 jobs by 2040. According to a report issued earlier this year by the Faraday Institution, by 2040, batteries manufactured for “private cars and light commercial vehicles” will account for around 80% of total UK battery demand. With this additional government funding, companies in the UK will be well placed to meet this demand, providing a boost to the UK manufacturing sector.
How exactly the funding will be divided and allocated has not yet been announced, but the funding announcement noted two key areas: 1) battery manufacturing plants (“Gigafactories”), and 2) the battery supply chain.
- Gigafactories
Of eleven Gigafactories identified by the Faraday Institution across Europe, the UK is currently home to one. It had previously been predicted that two more Gigafactories would be opened in the UK by 2024. The location of Gigafactories has been widely acknowledged to be a key factor in the success of associated electric vehicle manufacture in a particular location. - Supply chain
This is a very broad category and one which cannot be mentioned without noting innovation around solving critical mineral supply problems. Traditional lithium ion batteries require lithium and cobalt, which in the past have been sourced from South America and the Democratic Republic of the Congo respectively. While source location is not an easy problem to solve, opportunities exist in the UK in lithium recycling. Problems with cobalt supply in the past have driven research into minerals that could replace cobalt, and it is likely that this will continue. Looking outside of lithium ion, the UK is also expected to be a leading innovator in next generation battery technology, such as solid state and sodium ion technology.
While funding announcements can provide one window to what the future might look like, patent filing data can provide another. A report from the European Patent Office in 2020 found, unsurprisingly, that: “In 2018, advances in Li-ion cells were responsible for 45% of patenting activity related to battery cells, compared with just 7% for cells based on other chemistries.”. It also found that patenting activity involving solid-state electrolytes has been growing by an average of 25% per year between 2010 and 2020; we reported this at the time – here. UK companies and inventors make up a growing proportion of this increase.
Exactly what shape battery innovation in the future will take is anyone’s guess, but patent filing data and this recent funding announcement make one thing clear: the UK wants to be a part of it.
This article is for general information only. Its content is not a statement of the law on any subject and does not constitute advice. Please contact Reddie & Grose LLP for advice before taking any action in reliance on it.
