A public private joint venture between Coventry city council and Coventry Airport has unveiled further plans to develop the UK’s largest battery factory, as it continues to explore investment opportunities with battery manufacturers from around the globe. It is hoped the West Midlands Gigafactory will begin supplying batteries for electric vehicles in 2025 and at full capacity will be capable of delivering up to 60GWh of production per year.
The facility will be powered by a planned major boost to the local energy network, giving the factory access to a 100% renewable electricity supply from a combination of solar power and grid-supplied renewables. It will also be able to recycle used batteries as well as build new ones in an industry leading approach known as “cradle to cradle”.
Mike Murray, West Midlands Gigafactory project director, commented, “The West Midlands Gigafactory has a singular mission to create a state-of-the-art battery gigafactory in the heart of the UK automotive industry. It will provide a huge cash investment in the area, leading to thousands of well-paid jobs and creating crucial new skills for this country.
“The Coventry Airport site is perfectly located to do just that, being ideally positioned to supply the UK’s leading automotive manufacturers who need access to world-class batteries on their doorsteps. We need to make these advanced lithium-ion batteries where we make cars and there is no better place than in the West Midlands.”
The factory’s location is adjacent to the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre, part of the UK government’s Faraday Battery Challenge. The center will, says the factory’s operators, provide a critical link between research at laboratory or prototype stages and the successful mass production of new battery technologies.
