The UK Gigafactory Commission’s latest report determines a strategy to meet the demand for high-quality cells
The UK Gigafactory Commission's latest report, ‘Britain’s Battery Future’, determines a collaborative strategy to meet the demand for high-quality cells, establish a competitive position in the global battery market, and secure a more resilient automotive manufacturing industry
Johan Andersson, commercial managing director of Volklec, said, “Batteries have become one of the automotive industry’s most critical inputs, yet supply is bottlenecked by the UK’s heavy dependence on imports. Historically, we have left battery production to established overseas manufacturers, but with global demand for energy and power cells soon forecast to greatly outweigh supply, this model is no longer suitable.
“The majority of global cell supply is controlled by a single country. It has become a fragile ecosystem plagued by long lead times, volatile pricing and inflexibility. This creates unpredictability and distorts cost structures across the automotive value chain, while also undermining investment decisions. Amidst growing activity in Europe and the USA, from both domestic companies and via the establishment of manufacturing plants with large Korean, Japanese and Chinese companies on home soil, overreliance in imports also severely weakens the UK’s international competitiveness.”
Andersson believes that, for automotive manufacturers, supply chain fragility translates into industrial risk. Vehicle programmes are often forced to lock in designs prematurely, and production plans are curbed by cell availability. Securing a domestic supply chain is vital to tackling import dependence, but it comes with its challenges.
Designing and producing lithium-ion cells in large batches requires extensive process knowledge, specialist skills and industrialisation experience. Andersson said, “While the UK excels in R&D and materials science, it does not possess the breadth of battery manufacturing know-how required to compete head-to-head with long-established global players who’ve had over a decade to build and fine-tune their value chains.
“Therefore, the most pragmatic route lies in combining hard-won experience and expertise with domestic innovation. This would see proven battery IP harnessed by UK engineering and knowledge transfer to quickly build manufacturing capability, accelerating the journey to industrialisation and scale as a result.
Volklec uses an East-to-West knowledge transfer approach, enabling the company to control battery design, production, quality, and future development, while delivering within the required timeframe. This approach could help to reduce the UK’s reliance on imports.
Andersson said, “With battery demand expected to exceed 100 GWh by 2030, the UK runs the risk of a significant domestic supply shortage. This means that, without intervention, automotive OEMs will remain dependent on imports, maintaining their exposure to higher costs and risking supply interruptions. A clear commitment to buy British will provide companies like Volklec with the confidence to execute the accelerated roadmap to a sovereign value chain.
“A sovereign battery supply chain would help to anchor high-value automotive manufacturing in the UK, securing a competitive, independent and resilient future for the industry for decades to come. At Volklec, we fully support the Commission’s call for urgent and coordinated action to expand domestic battery supply, and continue to support the UK’s automotive sector through our unique, UK-based, industrial-scale battery cell programme.”
