Envision is targeting 11 gigawatt hours in 2024, rising eventually to 38. Britishvolt is targeting 30 gigawatt-hours by the end of the decade. 

AMTE, which also has a smaller commercial battery plant in Thurso, Scotland, has identified three potential sites in the UK for one new factory to help it ultimately reach 10 gigawatt hours, which it aims to get into commercial production in 2025. 

Its car batteries are aimed at high performance sports cars and heavy goods vehicles, rather than the mass market.

Testing by Britishvolt and AMTE at the UKBIC over coming months will be crucial to how successful those plans are.

The £130m facility was set up by the Government in 2021, giving companies thinking of investing in the UK access to machinery and experts to test how their batteries perform in manufacturing, before they go on and build their own plants. 

“In the majority of cases, if you’re coming from a lab, it’s a massive step into any manufacturing environment,” says Brundish. 

“You have to really mature and stabilise your processes quite early, otherwise this would be a very difficult, if not impossible, step.”

“There’s a big difference when you go from ten cells a day, to ten cells every thirty seconds,” says Jeff Pratt, managing director of the UKBIC, who spent most of his career with Nissan in Sunderland, including leading the developments of the battery plant Envision is now expanding. 

“You’ve also got to make sure you can maintain the cleanliness at high volume. Battery manufacturing is a dirty process, and you’ve got to counter that because it will have a massive effect on your OK rates. 

If you have a target of 2pc [scrap] and you end up at 5pc, you’ve thrown your business case.”

Richard LeCain, head of cell and process development at Britishvolt, says its work at the centre has already provided “invaluable” insights.  

“[Without it] we would have needed to build this prototype line ourselves, spec out all the equipment and get it all validated,” he says. “Having all that here with staff ready to engage with companies like ours has really cut down our development timelines.”

“We would love to run this kit every day, but they have other customers that are also coming through the facility as well.”

With the car industry at a crucial turning point, much now rests on their success. “Once you get scale into the country, that demonstrates to others that there’s a way to do it,” says APC’s Constance. 

“We’re working with others as well. I would like to see most of that 90 gigawatt hours fulfilled with local supply by then [2030]. I think we’ve got every chance to get there because I think we’re holding some really good cards.”