Country’s biggest factory to open in the region by 2025
New details of gigafactory battery plant at heart of motor industry revealed
THE biggest factory in the UK is due to open in the West Midlands in 2025. Developers planning a £2.5 billion car battery “gigafactory” in Coventry have revealed more details about the mammoth project, including the proposed opening date.
It is backed by local authorities across the West Midlands as well as mayor Andy Street and Warwick University, and is expected to receive Government support with funding of tens of millions of pounds, or more, coming from the Treasury. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is understood to be closely involved in the project, although the carmaker’s role has not been publicly confirmed.
The gigafactory, to be built on the site currently occupied by Coventry Airport, will be the UK’s largest single industrial facility, covering the same area as 74 full-size football pitches. It will employ 6,000 workers directly and support thousands more jobs in the supply chain.
It is also expected to play a vital role supporting carmakers in the region and across the UK, who will need a reliable supplier of batteries as they switch to production of electric vehicles.
Batteries made at the factory will power electric cars and have little in common with traditional car batteries found in petrol-driven vehicles.
Coventry City Council and Coventry Airport are currently behind the project, as a public-private sector joint venture. A private-sector battery producer and JLR could play key roles in the future.
Mike Murray, West Midlands Gigafactory project director “The West Midlands Gigafactory has a singular mission to create a state-of-the-art battery gigafactory in the heart of the UK automotive industry.
“It will provide a huge cash investment in the area, leading to thousands of well-paid jobs and creating crucial new skills for this country.
“The Coventry Airport site is perfectly located to do just that, being ideally positioned to supply the UK’s leading automotive manufacturers who need access to world-class batteries on their doorsteps. We need to make these advanced lithium-ion batteries where we make cars and there is no better place than in the West Midlands.”
Coun Jim O’Boyle, Cabinet Member for Jobs, Regeneration and Climate
Change, said: “The West Midlands Gigafactory is a unique public private sector joint venture between Coventry City Council and Coventry Airport Ltd, supported by an alliance of local governments, industrial groups and universities.
It will provide a huge amount of certainty to our automotive industry, as well as providing much needed jobs and investment to our region. This project puts Coventry at the heart of the British battery industry, giving it access to the region’s worldclass skills, R&D and supply chain capabilities.”
Andy Street, West Midlands Mayor, said: “From securing the future of our region’s automotive industry and the huge economic and job creation that would bring, to helping protect our planet from the climate change emergency, a West Midlands Gigafactory would be a complete game-changer for our region – and we are making it happen.”
Other gigafactories are also planned in the UK, including one led by manufacturer Nissan in the North-east. However, the West Midlands plant is set to be the largest in the country.
It will begin supplying high-tech batteries for electric vehicles from 2025, developers say. But the huge £2.5bn cost of the plant makes government support essential.
The factory will cover over half a million square metres of space – equivalent to 74 full-size football pitches. At full capacity it will be capable of delivering up to 60GWh of production per year, enough to power 600,000 electric vehicles.
Crucially, plans are now in place to ensure it is powered entirely from renewable electricity, using a combination of solar power and grid-supplied renewables. The West Midlands Gigafactory will be able to recycle used batteries as well as build new ones in an industry leading approach known as “cradle to cradle”.
It will provide a huge cash investment in the area, leading to thousands of wellpaid jobs
Mick Murray