The Chinese owner of the UK’s only major battery factory has announced plans for a major expansion that will make the Sunderland facility one of the largest electric vehicle facilities in Europe.
Envision said the plant’s annual capacity will eventually increase to 38 gigawatt hours (GWh), an increase over an earlier plan of 11 GWh announced in July as part of a supply contract for Japanese automaker Nissan’s Sunderland plant.
Battery companies around the world are investing billions of pounds in new equipment to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles.
Lei Zhang, Envision’s CEO, said in an interview with the Financial Times that the Shanghai-based company is in talks with global automakers about using the Sunderland plant and another in France to supply their car factories.
The “Gigafactory” in Sunderland, which currently has an annual output of 1.7 GWh, was first opened in 2012 to build batteries for Nissan’s electric vehicle Leaf, which is manufactured next door. Nissan will replace the Leaf with a crossover sport utility vehicle that has long been the most popular battery-electric vehicle on UK roads until this year it was overtaken by the Model 3 from US electric car pioneer Tesla.
Envision took over the Sunderland factory in 2019 when it bought the battery company from Nissan. Zhang said the maker, which also makes wind turbines, intended to publicize its battery business, a move that would allow it to fund its new plants.
A 38 GWh facility would be an important step in closing the gap in UK production. The UK government-backed Faraday Institution has calculated that the UK will need around 140 GWh of annual battery power by 2040 if it is to maintain an auto industry of similar size after moving away from internal combustion engines. The lack of security for giant factories in the UK could result in the industry shrinking by more than 100,000 jobs.
In the UK, the only other publicly announced plan for further battery production is Britishvolt, which aims to produce 30 GWh per year by 2027. The project is not yet fully funded, although the startup has received investments from Glencore, the metal trading company. Britishvolt is considering a London listing to raise capital.
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Local West Midlands politicians have a separate plan to attract investment in a gigafactory at Coventry Airport. They have received preliminary planning permission for the site, but no investor has committed yet.
According to Benchmark Minerals, a data company, 247 battery systems with a total capacity of more than 4,600 GWh are planned worldwide. The industry is dominated by Asian companies, including China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd, South Korea’s LG, and Japan’s Panasonic.
Europe and the US are generally considered lagging behind in car battery production. In Europe, however, there has been a surge in investment in recent years, including foreign investment from Asian companies and startups like Northvolt.
