The head of strategy at the UK’s West Midlands Gigafactory said the company is gunning to get into the top three in a European site selection list. It has made it to fourth out of a list of 31 in a major battery cell manufacturer’s competition for a new European site.
Richard Moore, West Midlands Gigafactory Battery Expert, told BEST the company is now working with its prospective client to get into the top three for the final assessment and selection.
The West Midlands Gigafactory claims to be the only site in the UK with planning permission in place for a gigafactory with capacity for 60GWh per annum and the potential to become Britain’s largest battery manufacturing facility. All utilities are in place, and the site is good to go with production in 2025, he said.
The type of cells to be made will depend on the customer, but Moore said the idea is cylindrical, core prismatic cells most definitely, and potentially pouch cells. In terms of chemistry, they will be looking at energy-biased chemistries, power-biased chemistries for both e-mobility and fixed energy storage: NMC 811, NMC 9.5.5 and lithium iron phosphate too.
It is a public-private partnership between Coventry City Council and Coventry Airport, with the support of West Midlands industrial groups, local government and academic institutions.
The project is pursuing two business models:
- Talking to end customers such as e-mobility and car companies to establish their needs, and acquire investment on that basis
- Going straight to a cells supplier, win them and their customers. The cells suppliers bring investment.
Moore said they are getting “quite advanced” on talks in advancing the second model, though declines to specify timelines or company names. He was previously Chief Engineer at car maker Jaguar Land Rover, where he led the electrification engineering for propulsion systems across all Jaguar and Land Rover product programmes, including the Jaguar I-PACE, its first electric vehicle.
He was more recently a board member and executive engineering director of Lotus, where he led the engineering of all sports cars, including the Evija electric hypercar.
He worked closely with Chinese battery manufacturers, including CATL and BYD, and smiles when asked if either is in the frame now as partner, though declines to confirm or deny. Because of his relationship with the company that is the prospective client, it has told him the gigafactory is their number three for the European market. He has seen the assessment in granular detail for the 31 European sites, he said.
Government backing and incentives required
To get into the top three ranking requires government backing and incentives. “If we can be really clear in our conversations with government and get our incentives package to the same level as offered in other parts of Europe – Hungary, Spain and other countries that are being successful – then the rest of the criteria are in a good place.”
Planning permission, people and academia are all there, but the financial support “just needs unlocking”. Moore’s team are in conversation with both government and opposition Labour Party, he said.
“That (second) model is leading the race by quite a long way,” he said, adding they will not give up on the first model until the second is completely signed and sealed.
They will take and transplant existing chemistry and equipment formats already in operation and being delivered. “Our model is a lot easier to deliver.”
Other models develop their own chemistries and processes, which he applauds, but that is very difficult and challenging as you have to invent the chemistry, format and manufacturing process from scratch.
He said the gigafactory could be assumed to cost $1 billion for every 10GWh, depending on the technology put in.
Moore envisages a three-phase build of the gigafactory, each 20GWh, with a recycling factory alongside. Construction will be in conjunction with the first phase of the cell plant, also as it would be a significant revenue stream. He thinks it could be 25% the size of the cell plant.
If the UK does not develop its own gigafactories and secure its energy needs, it will be at the mercy of other countries that do and will end up paying over the odds as well as not having security of supply, he said.
He is keen to contribute to the pressing need to get gigafactories set up in the UK – five in this decade alone. “It’s not too late, it’s never too late, but we’ve got to get going,” he said.
The UK government is now beginning to listen and take on board the need to develop the industry. A year ago would have been a different answer, he said. “We’re clearly asserting what it takes to deliver a gigafactory and what the price of entry is.
The proposed factory is geographically at the heart of the UK automotive industry and is next door to the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre.
