A Scotland-based lithium cell maker has joined a consortium of firms that aims to become the centre for next generation battery packs in the UK that will be developed ‘from powder to power’.
AGM Batteries, based in Thurso, makes advanced chargeable and non-rechargeable lithium-ion cells.
It joins smart battery management technology firm Dukosi, battery pack manufacturer Johnson Matthey Battery Systems, Warwick Manufacturing Group and Cosworth in the £5.4m so-called UK Automotive Battery Supply Chain project.
“This project [creates] a team of respected industry partners, each bringing a specialism to the table,” said AGM Batteries business development director Ian Whiting.
“What we have is the basis of a complete UK supply chain for automotive batteries from ‘powder to power’.
The investment has come from the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), which has a budget of £1billion to hand out to firms with ‘innovative low-carbon propulsion technology [that] want to turn it into a product in the UK’.
APC spent more of its budget with another £9.7M grant made to Nissan as part of a ‘groundbreaking’ future generation battery project based around the Japanese carmaker’s plant in Sunderland. Read more here
Despite its recent handouts to the UK battery industry, when contacted by BEST magazine APC was tight-lipped about where it sees the battery sector in particular heading in the UK.
However a statement on its website does say the APC supports activities which will help to build the UK as a ‘Propulsion Nation’.