Honda’s departure in 2021 was a big blow to the UK automotive industry since the closure of Ford’s engine plant in Bridge a year ago, and now the situation is likely to shake even more.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is in talks with Northvolt and SVolt Energy about batteries for electric vehicles that the British company may choose to build in Slovakia. Bloomberg, The automaker says it has not yet made a decision. Jaguar has already subcontracted the I-Pace electric vehicle to Magna Steyr in Austria, but most of JLR’s production consists of ICE vehicles and is based in the UK.
Both companies will accept electric cars, Land Rover has promised to release several EV models from 2024, and Jaguar will be fully electric by 2025, so the need for additional batteries will be very important in the future. This is something the UK is not ready to provide, experts say.
While the UK was at the forefront of EV production a decade ago when Nissan’s Sunderland plant was selected to build the original Leaf and the country invested in battery research, it could not keep up with competitors in actual battery production. Bloomberg requirements.
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The Green Finance Institute’s car decarbonization coalition needs to increase current battery production in the UK by 45 times to more than 90 gigawatts to provide enough batteries to keep the country’s automotive industry afloat. in the report.
The group has issued a stern warning about what would happen if the sector did not step up its efforts by investing more in the £ 1.7 billion ($ 2.29 billion) provided by Britishvolt to build a 30-gigawatt plant. or a set of 300,000 batteries by 2028.
“If the battery sector does not emerge in the UK, there is a possibility of a loss of financial income for batteries purchased elsewhere, as well as the risk that the existing automotive industry in the UK will decline through the transition to co-location. battery production, ”the organization said.
Source: Bloomberg Through Auto News
