Agenda item

Report of the Director of Finance and Resources

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee considered a report of the Director of Finance and Resources, which set out the performance of UKBIC for the 2024/25 financial year.

A corresponding private report detailing confidential financial matters was also submitted for consideration (Minute 34 below referred).

The Committee noted that the report would be considered by the Coventry Shareholder Committee at its meeting scheduled for 4^th November 2025.

The report indicated that UKBIC is a state of the art battery manufacturing research and development facility, funded by £114m from the UK Government, through Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation) and £18m from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).  The facility is operated by UKBIC Ltd which is owned by Coventry City Council.  The Council is also the accountable body for the grant funding used to establish the facility.

It was noted that the Council does not provide any ongoing funding for UKBIC but did provide a one-off short term loan of £500k in 2021, which is being repaid in line with expectations and is due to be fully repaid by 2027. 

The principle activity of the company is to provide focussed capabilities to enable industry, via open access, to scale up and commercialise advanced battery technologies central to the development and manufacture of batteries.

The Company’s mission to support the growth of the battery industry in the UK remains unchanged. The financial year 2024/25 as is often the case with developing industries, saw both positive and negative developments, which have affected the company.  The period saw a rapid take-up in battery-powered electric vehicles, together with the further development of newer battery technologies and chemistries (such as solid state, prismatic, sodium, nickel, etc.), all of which were reflected in customers using UKBIC facilities. Against that, there were a number of high-profile company failures in the UK, that affected the business.  As a result of this, UKBIC has widened its key objectives to accommodate a changing battery industry and landscape to incorporate both international opportunities and other potential facility utilisation without changing its core mission of supporting the growth of the UK battery industry.

UKBIC secured an additional £36m in capital funding for a new Flexible Pilot Line (FPL) in 2023. This is a smaller scale line which is designed to bridge the gap between research-scale work on battery chemistries (often taking place either in private labs belonging to individual manufacturers or in university facility) and the main industrial scale-up line that was originally installed in the facility using the grant funding managed by the Council.  This allows UKBIC to offer 40-litre mixes which require less material which is a key driver to the cost for potential customers, considerably reducing the barrier to entry and opening up a wider customer base for the company.

The first customers would begin to use the FPL before the end of 2025 and the final cell assembly capability due to become available in summer 2026.  The company has held successful industry days and webinars to promote the new capability, and whilst the focus will remain on UK industry in line with the company’s overall mission, it will also be seeking international opportunities.

In addition, UKBIC offers 5 training courses designed for people working in the battery sector, including:

·  Introduction to Battery Manufacturing

·  Electrode Deep Dive

·  Cell Assembly Deep Dive

·  Formation Aging and Testing Deep Dive

·  Module and Pack Deep Dive.

The company also offers bespoke training courses designed specifically for the needs of their customers, with six companies currently receiving training from UKBIC.

Members of the Committee asked questions and received answers from officers on the following:

·  That there is no on-going funding for UKBIC from the Council and that the loan is being repaid.

·  UKBIC has had significant grant income but will need commercial income from customers to continue to operate.

·  That work is being done by UKBIC on disposal of batteries, including recycling and re-purposing car batteries for other uses.

·  That there is a dedicated business development team to sell the facility to battery companies.

RESOLVED that, the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee note the report and support the recommendations to the Coventry Shareholder Committee.