‘Gigafactory’ welcome but battery power production will need boost to compete with Europe

‘Gigafactory’ welcome but battery power production will need boost to compete with Europe

The announcement of a battery "gigafactory" in Sunderland is a significant moment on the road to electrifying the UK car fleet, a journey that until now had barely left the kerb.

The new factory, built by Chinese manufacturer Envision, will be the largest of its kind in the UK with capacity to produce 9GWh of battery power a year, and space on the site to increase to 25GWh and eventually 35GWh.

Crucially it will have an immediate market for the 100,000 or so lithium-ion batteries it is sketched to produce each year.