CPI opens flagship battery materials innovation centre

CPI opened a new Advanced Materials Battery Industrialisation Centre (AMBIC) at NETPark in County Durham earlier this month — a specialist facility designed to accelerate the development and scale-up of breakthrough battery materials.

Established through a £12 million investment from UK Research and Innovation’s Faraday Battery Challenge funded by Innovate UK, AMBIC is a joint initiative between CPI and WMG at the University of Warwick; two founding members of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HVMC). While AMBIC’s overall capabilities are delivered across two sites, the new opening marks the launch of CPI’s dedicated open-access facility — enabling innovators to develop, test, and scale advanced battery materials from gram to >10kg quantities.

Frank Millar, CEO at CPI, said: “This new facility provides the UK battery ecosystem with a vital capability — a place to scale and validate materials that could define the future of energy storage. It gives our partners greater speed and assurance as they translate their technology from laboratory to industrial scale.”

Significant challenges
As demand grows for high-performance, sustainable batteries to power electric vehicles (EVs) and grid-scale energy storage, companies face significant challenges in scaling novel materials for use in industrially valid cell formats. CPI’s new AMBIC site helps address this by combining cutting-edge powder processing and analytical infrastructure with AI-enhanced data collection and high-throughput testing.

By offering flexible access and expert support, the centre enables companies to de-risk and accelerate their scale-up journey. CPI's team can support material synthesis, formulation development, automated formulation & electrode coating and deliver performance optimisation under one roof.

Dr Keri Goodwin, chief technologist at CPI, said: “AMBIC is a key part of the UK’s industrial battery development toolkit. Whether you are developing lithium-ion, solid-state, or emerging chemistries, our facility gives you the tools and expertise to scale faster — from powder to prototype.”