Government Turns Key on £13m Electric Vehicle Battery Hub
A new British research and development centre at Warwick University aims to take advantage of the emerging BEV (battery electric vehicle) and HEV (hybrid electric vehicle) battery market by building what may be called an “electric vehicle battery hub.”
The government announced that it plans to build the £13 million research centre at the University of Warwick, and it aims to boost the development of car batteries.
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) supplied £9 million of the £13 million of capital for the new “UK energy storage R&D centre,” which is designed to prop up the UK expertise in electrochemistry.
Countries in which research and development are actively encouraged and well supported, such as the United States and Japan, tend to produce many educated people, hence increasing the size of the domestic electrochemistry employee market so that fewer people need to be hired from overseas to fill UK positions.
Another £4 million was provided by “industry,” but the businesses that provided this capital money were not stated by BIS.
The research centre will focus on developing batteries for low- and ultra-low-carbon vehicles, but in the future may expand its development to large commercial and off-road vehicles such as ships and trains.
Battery alternatives such as fuel cells can also be researched at the centre.
The lab will be situated in the High Value Manufacturing Catapult at the University of Warwick. The High Value Manufacturing Catapult was opened last year to boost the commercialization of new manufacturing technologies.
According to the business minister, Michael Fallon, “This £13m facility will help accelerate the development of battery cells for the next generation of vehicles, and is a vital investment in the future of the automotive sector.”
“It complements over £5.5bn that global vehicle manufacturers have committed to UK projects in the last 18 months.”
Source: BusinessGreen
Photo Credit: RDECOM
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