UK Consortium Set Up to Improve Battery Technology
A consortium of British companies has been given extra funding towards the five and a half million pound project that is aimed at taking battery technology to the next level key to the future of high performance vehicles with low carbon emissions. The UK Automotive Battery Supply Chain is fronted by AGM Batteries and includes Johnson Matthey Battery Systems, Cosworth, Warwick Manufacturing Group and Dukosi. Although the UK already has a strong base for battery research the UK automotive industry gets most of its batteries from abroad. The UK Automotive Battery Supply Chain project is hoping that not only will there be further innovation of battery technology but also grow the number of batteries that are produced domestically. The extra funding for the project has come from the Advanced Propulsion Centre. This ten year, one billion pound partnership between government and industry was set up a little over two years ago in 2013 with the objective of building the UK’s capabilities from research to development and finally industrialisation of these new low carbon technologies. This funding along with the amount invested by the companies involved will allow the UK to cost effectively manufacture cutting edge battery technology. Talking about the creation of the consortium AGM Batteries director of business development Ian Whiting highlighted the UK’s existing strengths in battery research and automotive manufacturing and that bringing together the specialisms of each company will allow them to take it to the next level. Each member of The UK Automotive Battery Supply Chain project brings a different specialism to the table each needed to make the project a success. AGM Batteries will be responsible for scaling up these new cells to a real world manufacturing level while Warwick Manufacturing Group brings expertise in design for manufacturing and electro-chemistry. Dukosi brings battery management and ‘on-cell’ electronics.
