UK’s first gigafactory may be built near Aston Martin in Wales

Aston Martin runs a car production site for its first SUV in St Athan, the DBX.

The battery industry is forecast to be worth £5 billion domestically by 2025, and the demand for lithium ion cells across a number of industries, including vehicle electrification, is already increasing dramatically, and risks becoming constrained as the UK government strives to meet its Road to Zero targets by 2050.

Britishvolt is hoping to fill this gap in the market, and is also moving to leverage the UK's lithium ion battery research development and academic community to ensure the country retains a commercial and technical lead.

The initial wave of £1.2 billion of investment into the site will eventually lead to around 3,500 jobs. These will be across a wide range of disciplines and will create a local ecosystem of 10,000 to 15,000 further jobs for the wider supply chain – including material suppliers, contractors and local services.

The firm is also announcing plans to build a solar park alongside the factory, to support sustainable production of batteries and meet low carbon objectives, ensuring the firm plays a true and active part in the global green agenda.

Lars Carlstrom, CEO at Britishvolt commented: "We aim to deliver a scalable, onshore production and diverse portfolio of world-class lithium ion batteries, to support the unprecedented transition to electrification – primarily servicing the automotive and energy storage markets.

“After six months of careful analysis, Bro Tathan, St Athan, is the preferred choice due to number of different factors. The Welsh Government has welcomed us with open arms and impeccable due diligence, and the region meets crucial criteria including import/export accessibility, availability of labour and skilled staff, along with convenient geographical proximity to customers and local industrial companies.

Britishvolt https://britishvolt.com