UK Battery Research and Development Centre Feasibility Study

As electrification of transport accelerates in all major sectors, OEMs and battery developers have an increasing need for knowledge and facilities to support research, development and validation of electrified products. The UK does not currently have the capability or capacity to meet this growing demand. This puts UK companies at a significant disadvantage due to the cost and time delays of shipping batteries to the EU or USA for development testing -- even when such capacity can be identified.

AVL and WMG propose to set up an advanced battery research and development centre, located at Wellesbourne in the Midlands, that can offer the innovative skills and infrastructure to the UK automotive industry and beyond: the **UK Battery Research and Development Centre (UKBRDC).** This centre will develop and apply state-of-the-art development and validation methodologies, and will offer the combined knowledge and capability of AVL and WMG to UK OEMs and battery developers.

The scope of operations will include cell, module and pack scale testing and development, incorporating expected future requirements such as larger and higher voltage modules and packs, and the need for repeatable abuse testing at pack level.

Whilst initially focused on the Automotive sector, the centre will be scoped to grow into aerospace, off-highway, marine, rail and static energy storage markets as they evolve.

By offering test and development capability, this centre is fully complementary to investments already by UK government in this area, such as the Faraday Challenge, UK Battery Industrialisation Centre, Driving the Electric Revolution, and the APC and IUK research and development programmes.