UK government’s plea to eggheads: Make batteries great again!

New research hub unveiled in bid to make UK a world leader in electric batteries.

Kelly Fiveash – Jul 24, 2017 12:19 pm | 99

Credit: Batteries Not Included

Battery technology needs a spark of life to improve its storage while reducing the costs, and the UK government thinks the best way to do that is to slap some cash on the table to spur competition in the sector—where it currently lags behind the likes of countries such as Japan and companies such as Tesla.

On Monday, business and energy secretary Greg Clark launched a £45 million “virtual Battery Institute” initiative to encourage the best brains on the topic to put their heads together in a bid to make the UK a world leader “in the design, development, and manufacture of electric batteries.”

The freshly dubbed Faraday Challenge forms part of the minority Tory government’s industrial strategy—much of which was announced prior to the recent, highly damaging (for prime minister Theresa May, at least) General Election—which seeks to boost Britain’s productivity under the shadow of Brexit.

The “research, innovation, and scale-up” competitions will be led by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The £45 million pot covers the initial research stage of the Battery Institute. The government has set aside £246 million in total to try to improve battery technology in the UK over the next four years.

“If every part of Britain is to prosper in the future we need to ensure that we have the right policies and institutions in place to drive the productivity—which is to say, the earning power—of the economy, and the people and places that make it up,” said pun-laden Clark.

The government thinks that billions of pounds of taxpayer money could be saved if electricity is used and stored more efficiently—which, put another way, means researchers, the tech and energy industries, and other interested parties working together to find a better way to balance supply and demand. But to achieve that, the UK’s chief scientific adviser Sir Mark Walport has said that advances in chemistry and material science are needed.

“Batteries will form a cornerstone of a low carbon economy, whether in cars, aircraft, consumer electronics, district, or grid storage,” said EPSRC chief, professor Philip Nelson. “To deliver the UK’s low carbon economy we must consolidate and grow our capabilities in novel battery technology.”

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