Britishvolt to build £200m battery tech centre

Battery technology firm Britishvolt is linking-up with warehouse giant Prologis to build a new £200m tech centre in the West Midlands.Winvic is on-board as main contractor on the battery cell scale-up facility at Prologis Park Hams Hall just outside Birmingham.Britishvolt will lease the centre from Prologis which will complement its £300m battery gigaplant factory being built by ISG in Northumberland.Work there will spearhead new cell formats and electro chemistries to create higher performance, production ready, batteries of the future while helping lower cell costs for more affordable electric cars.The West Midlands site is becoming known as the “Battery Corridor” being home to the Warwick Manufacturing Group, Advanced Propulsion Centre and UK Battery Industrialisation Centre.Paul Franklin, Property Director, Britishvolt said: “This is another important milestone for Britishvolt, UK plc and its world class automotive industry.“The UK’s battery ecosystem is a global leader in integrated technology development and industrialisation with the Warwick Manufacturing Group, Faraday Institution, UK Battery Industrialisation Centre and the Advanced Propulsion Centre.“I am delighted to see Britishvolt lead the UK’s journey into re-industrialisation with the first full-scale battery Gigaplant. The new scale-up facilities announced today will help the UK build on its home-grown battery intellectual property and level up the country ready for the energy transition.”Winvic started early works on the site last October and practical completion of the structure is anticipated in July with fit out and equipment installation to be undertaken through to end Q3, 2023.