Chinese battery firm nearing deal on UK’s biggest gigafactory
One of China’s largest specialist electric car battery manufacturers is set to spend billions on the UK’s biggest gigafactory, reports suggest.
According to The Times, EVE Energy, the world’s largest manufacturer of cylindrical car batteries, is nearing the final stages of negotiations to build a 60-gigawatt-hour (GW/h) factory near Coventry.
The factory will also include a recycling unit, that will be able to reprocess car batteries to power home appliances.
The investment is contingent on hundreds of millions of pounds in UK subsidies, likely to come from a £4.5 billion pot of aid for key manufacturing industries such as the automotive sector.
The report claims that a 20GW/h factory will be constructed first with a £1.2bn price tag, which will then be expanded to 60GW/h.
The Times also claimed that EVE has lined up a carmaker to take the batteries that will be made at the site but no names have been confirmed.
Japanese carmaker Nissan’s Sunderland factory is currently the UK’s largest facility of its kind, but the EVE Energy project would be almost double the size.
The site will sit within a planned larger project called the UK Centre of Electrification, a joint venture between local councils and the owners of Coventry Airport.
It’s estimated that the plant will create 6,000 jobs and thousands more in the supply chain in a region that exports an estimated £14bn in cars and auto parts — almost double that of any other part of the UK.
The move reportedly follows the company outlining a “multi-billion pound” commitment to the UK in a recent letter to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
However, the government may face pushback from Westminster colleagues over fears that China is gaining too much of an influence foothold in UK affairs.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was contacted for comment.