The UK government has published its ‘Battery Strategy’, setting out measures to facilitate the growth of a domestic battery industry to support the EV and energy storage system (ESS) sectors.
The release yesterday (26 November) comes at a time when the EU and the US press ahead with plans to support their own battery industries. Demand for batteries, mainly lithium-ion, is booming globally with the electrification of society and all three regions want to reduce their reliance on China and wider East Asia, which dominate production today.
The UK government therefore aims for the country to “have a globally competitive battery supply chain that supports economic prosperity and the net zero transition”, it said in its UK Battery Strategy paper though didn’t give any specific targets.
The meat of the document is 15 measures or ‘policy options’ to deliver on this aim, detailed further down.
Context: UK’s battery industry today
The country has lagged behind Europe and the US for announced projects, with its only homegrown lithium-ion gigafactory company Britishvolt going into administration in early 2023 after failing to scale up, and politicians last week calling for more to be done, as reported by our sister site Current.
Read more: EnergyStorageNews