Britishvolt enters exclusive technology collaboration with Siemens UK

By Nicky Godding

15 January 2021

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Britishvolt, a major new investor in battery technologies in the UK, has entered into an exclusive technology collaboration agreement with Siemens.

The collaboration will see Siemens provide Coventry-headquartered Britishvolt with access to its automation, electrification solutions and Digital Twin manufacturing execution technology. This innovative system gives the opportunity to simulate gigaplant production processes and flows ahead of construction completion, optimising design and efficiencies. It also promises to speed up delivery times, allowing Britishvolt to stay on track to deliver the first lithium-ion batteries at the end of 2023.

Siemens is also providing Britishvolt with its latest design and simulation development tools, accelerating the time it takes for state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery cells to go from laboratory to production at scale.

Britishvolt CEO, Orral Nadjari “We are delighted to enter into this technology collaboration. Working with Siemens and utilising its global expertise in Digital Twin and simulation technologies will play a pivotal role in Britishvolt achieving its tight deadlines to begin producing world-class batteries, at scale, by the end of 2023. Being able to simulate production of lithium-ion batteries and cell development speeds up a complicated process and allows us to bring crucial batteries to market quicker. Working with leading global partners such as Siemens helps us stay firmly on course in our mission to build the UK’s first battery gigaplant.”

Carl Ennis, CEO Siemens GB and Ireland, added: “This is an exciting and vital project to quickly ramp up availability at commercial scale of the batteries required by the electric vehicle market to help the UK reach its carbon net zero goals by 2050. In order to give manufacturers and end customers the confidence to switch to electric vehicles, we need to have this crucial part of the supply chain here in the UK.

“Siemens has the manufacturing and energy infrastructure technology and services to help Britishvolt build the most efficient, sustainable gigaplant. We are keen to start working with Britishvolt to get the Blyth site operational by 2023, supplying batteries and delivering crucial investment in the North East, helping to level up the UK economy.”

Britishvolt’s gigaplant is one the largest industrial investments ever undertaken in the UK and the largest in North-East England since the 1980s. With construction due to begin this summer, Britishvolt says it remains on track to begin production of world-leading lithium-ion batteries in 2023.

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.