The first tranche of more than £60 million of new equipment has been delivered to the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) near Coventry, which is due to open later this year.

The 18,000m² building is now complete, and phase two is underway — adding the production equipment and services that will be needed to help companies develop and scale up production of the latest UK-developed battery technology.

Electrode production equipment has arrived from suppliers in Europe and is already being installed.

UKBIC managing director Jeff Pratt (www.ukbic.co.uk) said: “Now that the shell of the building has been constructed, along with the car parking and access roads, services such as heating, gas, electricity and water are being installed to enable us to power up the process equipment.

Clean and dry rooms are also being constructed.

“UKBIC will offer the same industrial-standard production equipment you would find in any major battery production factory around the world, and it is capable of running at the rates and volumes needed to tip the balance of risk and confidence in favour of new UK technology.

“Work is progressing well, and when it is completed, we will play our part in enabling the development and manufacture of batteries in the UK.”

The UKBIC is being established after a joint bid by the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP), Coventry City Council and Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) at the University of Warwick, which won a national competition run by the Advanced Propulsion Centre (supported by Innovate UK).