UK battery testing facilities needed to amp up EV sector

The UK Industrial Strategy and related Faraday Battery Challenge aim to develop a high-volume UK battery industry to serve its automotive sector. This requires establishing UK battery cell manufacturing facilities and a UK battery chemicals supply chain to deliver high power packs into vehicles. Battery testing is key to developing and delivering Li-ion batteries for electric vehicles, which supports the UK’s important automotive sector supply chain.

E4tech’s study into battery testing in the UK found that there is little overview of UK capacity and capabilities for third-party battery testing, slowing the progress of batteries to market. E4tech delivered a clear, multi-dimensional review of testing facilities for EVs and battery development to support the UK automotive sector. Subsequently, InnovateUK commissioned E4tech to provide a database of testing facilities for EV development programmes to support the UK automotive sector.

Through the two studies, E4tech’s database identified 31 UK-based third-party testing facilities across all battery levels – cell, module and pack – showing that EV battery testing sites are largely concentrated in the Midlands and South East, where there are clusters of specialist skills and expertise across the UK. The study also identified gaps in battery testing capability and capacity that would be required to support the development of batteries for EVs in the UK. This has already helped some facilities to improve their capabilities to meet demand.

The follow-on study, the database, was designed to facilitate introduction of an EV battery testing online platform by Innovate UK – details of which will be announced in the coming months on the UKRI webpages. For more detail, see this report.

For more information about E4tech’s work in EVs and energy storage see here.