UK's CBI calls on government to invest in EV infrastructure, manufacturing

The UK government needs to accelerate the delivery of electric vehicle charging points and invest in a UK-based battery gigafactory in order for the country to meet its net-zero ambitions, according to the Confederation of British Industry Sept. 14.

Speaking at the CBI's first virtual Net-Zero Conference, Director-General Dame Carolyn Fairbairn said the UK must become a global leader in climate action to create new green jobs and lift productivity post-pandemic.

Launching the CBI's Green Recovery Roadmap, Fairbairn said, "action speaks a thousand times louder than words", calling on the government to take ambitious steps nationally and use the rest of the year to reignite global efforts to achieve net-zero by 2050.

One of the main points on the roadmap was the need to:

• Accelerate the delivery of electric vehicle charging points and introduce a net-zero mobility credit scheme, alongside government funding for a UK-based gigafactory (battery manufacturing for electric vehicles).

Back in July, manufacturer Britishvolt signed a memorandum of understanding with the Welsh government in a bid to build the UK's first large-scale EV battery factory.

The plant is aiming for commercially viable capacity of 30 GWh, staggered over three tranches, with a 200 MW solar plant alongside to assist in making the manufacturing of batteries as green as possible, it said.

The site is a former Royal Air Force base at Bro Tathan in south Wales.

Speaking with S&P Global Platts, Orral Nadjari, Britishvolt CEO and founder, said all the initial funds are in place to move forward with the project, and progress to the next phase. He also said that by the first quarter of 2021 the company could be in a position to list publicly, which would help with raising the around GBP1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) needed to get the facility up and running.

Battery industry needs UK

When it comes to the plant's operations, Britishvolt Chief Strategy Officer Isobel Sheldon told Platts there will be a "parallel approach," one where cell design technology can be licensed with a fallback position of a homegrown design. Britishvolt intends to create batteries to suit specific automotive customers. What will not be happening is toll manufacturing, whereby the manufacturer simply makes batteries stamped with other companies' brands, she said.

"The battery industry needs to come to the UK," said Sheldon. "The ambitious plans we have are also going to come with social responsibility, bringing jobs to Wales and protecting the UK's auto industry."

The coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated the need for localized supply chains, for both job security and the good of the planet.

On Sept. 14, CBI's Fairbairn said: "For so many, this feels like a time of fiercely competing goals. The world faces two seemingly separate yet fundamental problems. COVID-19 -- the biggest health crisis in living memory and climate change -- the defining challenge of the modern era."

"But they are not separate. The response to one affects success on the other. And the defining question is, how does the UK use this moment to rebuild our economy and the greener and stronger world we want to return to."

"Together business and government can lay the foundations for a strong, sustainable future. Not just for the UK, but through our global leadership, beyond our shores as well. A to-do list for this generation to pass on a better world to the next."

The other five main points of the CBI's Green Recovery Roadmap are:

• Lifting the cap on auctions for renewable power and introduce a financing model to encourage domestic and international business investment in new nuclear capacity.
• Become a world leader in carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology – by introducing a privately-financed Regulated Asset Base model and developing plans for an auction mechanism for CCUS.
• At least GBP1 billion of government funding for hydrogen testing programs and introduce a variant of the Contracts for Difference auction for the production of hydrogen.
• Create an Office for Sustainable Aviation Fuels to secure the development of low-carbon alternatives and commit GBP500 million of matched public-private funding (GBP1 billion in total) to support the UK's first commercial sustainable fuel plant.
• Deliver jobs and energy savings by retrofitting homes and buildings to be more energy efficient and switch to low-carbon heating; and for Government to publish its Heat and Buildings Strategy.