UK Aims To Dominate EV Battery Development With Advanced Research By MTC, WMG

While auto companies have the production prowess, they rely on institutes like the Manufacturing Technology Centre and Warwick Manufacturing Group for their research on the EV batteries.

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As part of the select media delegation, I recently visited the United Kingdom to see how the country is pushing it to become a technology superpower. UK PM Rishi Sunak, in his inaugural speech at the London Tech Week 2023, said that he wants to make the UK ‘Technology Capital Of The World’. A lot of investment is being done in the field of AI, IOT, ML among other new-age technologies to attract companies from across the globe to set up their R&D base in the United Kingdom. One such field where the country is leveraging their push on the technology is electric vehicles.

With the advancement of EVs across the world, the demand has risen multifold. In fact, UK itself places itself high on the list of countries with maximum EV penetration. However, electric vehicles are far from perfect yet. At the heart of the EVs are the batteries, that’s the biggest concern, as well as opportunity for any country working on electric vehicles. One who cracks the perfect EV battery, will dominate the industry.

This is exactly what Tesla did in the US with their Superchargers. Elon Musk led EV maker worked intensively on perfecting the superchargers for electric vehicles. They have reached to a point where other prominent automakers like Hyundai and Rivian with their own electric cars in the market, are planning to use the Tesla supercharger network to entice buyers. This is what the UK is doing with the electric batteries. The backbone of this research on the EV batteries is done in the Midlands region.

The Midlands houses a multitude of automakers from across the globe and in some way, often called the modern-day Detroit. Companies like Jaguar Land Rover, Ford, Mahindra, Tata, Gordon Murray, TVS among others, are leveraging technological advancement in the UK. While these companies have the production prowess among other things, they rely on institutes like the Manufacturing Technology Centre and Warwick Manufacturing Group for their research on the EV batteries. 

Manufacturing Technology Centre

Take for instance the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) at Ansty Park, Coventry. The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) was established in 2010 as an independent Research & Technology Organisation (RTO). The objective of MTC is to bridge the gap between academia and industry – often referred to as ‘the valley of death’, said Prof. Chris White, Director of Industrial Policy Research Centre in an exclusive conversation with Zee News.

In one such research towards the advancement of the electric vehicles, engineers at the MTC utilised laser surface micro-texturing, a new, innovative process using ultra short, fast lasers that could achieve the desired performance in the lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. The current breed of EVs are powered by Li-Ion batteries, but their full potential is not utilized yet.

This technology by the MTC aims to make batteries more useful in extreme atmospheric conditions. This optimised battery developed by MTC showed a 32% improvement in the surface adhesion leading to a more robust and safer cell compared to the off-the shelf Li-ion battery. Prof White further says that MTC can work together with auto companies to make EVs more attractive.

Warwick Manufacturing Group

Then you have the Warwick Manufacturing Group, located on the University of Warwick campus. WMG is a collaboration between academia and the public & private sectors, driving innovation in science, technology, and engineering. WMG was founded by the late Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya in 1980 to help reinvigorate UK manufacturing and help businesses overcome barriers to innovation.

He is widely acknowledged to have played an influential role acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover by Tata Motors in 2008. WMG’s battery research, undertaken in collaboration with industry, is carried out in the Energy Innovation Centre (EIC), part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult (HMVC). We were given a special tour of the state-of-the-art EV lab where the WMG is working on improving and making advanced lithium-ion batteries.

This is a unique UK facility capable of producing full-size prototype battery cells in sufficient quantities for industrial testing. “Electrification of transport is critical to deliver acceptable air quality and reduce energy consumption. It requires new technologies and new skills that current industry is struggling to deliver,” said Prof  Robin Clark, Dean of Warwick Manufacturing Group.

WMG won a bid to set up, what is now, the UKBIC (UK battery Industrialisation centre. While the EIC focuses on proof of concept, including electrochemical materials and cells development, UKBIC industrialises processes for companies setting up commercial battery production in gigafactories. Prof Clark further said that the aim is to electrify the transport network, which can be a backbone of clean transportation.

We saw how WMG is leading the electrification agenda through technology development covering the entire battery life-cycle from raw materials through to recycling, working at an industrial scale. Overall, a visit to WTC and WMG gives us an opportunity to understand where the UK is heading in terms of electric vehicles and development around EV batteries.