UK Battery Industrialisation Centre

What UK Battery Industrialisation Centre does

UKBIC is the UK's national battery manufacturing development facility, an open-access scale-up platform bridging the gap between laboratory research and commercial mass production. Founded in 2017 as part of the UK Government's Faraday Battery Challenge and operationally launched in July 2021, it operates from a 20,000m² purpose-built site in Coventry housing two complementary manufacturing lines — the Volume Industrialisation Line for industrial-scale cell production validation and the Flexible Pilot Line (the only facility of its kind in Europe) for early-stage process optimisation — alongside electrode manufacturing, cylindrical and pouch cell assembly in ISO 7 clean rooms, module and pack assembly, formation/ageing/testing, an expanded Battery Development Laboratory for materials characterisation, and an 800m² Clean and Dry Zone for rental.

The business model blends three revenue streams: client-pay access for manufacturers, startups, researchers and supply-chain firms (covering equipment usage, technical expertise and process development), publicly priced training courses (including an EAL-accredited Introduction to Battery Manufacturing flagship at £750 plus four Deep Dive modules at £450 each), and capital investment funded by UKRI/Faraday Battery Challenge and the West Midlands Combined Authority (cumulative public funding of approximately £204m since 2017). UKBIC does not retain client IP and serves primary automotive clients alongside aerospace, marine, mass transit, off-highway and grid storage applications.

The company is a private limited company wholly owned by Coventry City Council, governed by a board that includes the APC CEO, WMG/University of Warwick representation and Coventry City Council's Director of Property Services as Chair, with executive leadership combining veterans from Johnson Matthey, A123 Systems, Britishvolt, Jaguar Land Rover, Ricardo and McLaren Applied Technologies. Headcount has scaled from approximately 10 in 2018 to over 140 by 2023, and 24+ advanced scale-up and industrialisation projects have been delivered since opening.

Name

UK Battery Industrialisation Centre

Legal name

UK Battery Industrialisation Centre

Website

https://ukbic.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

UKBIC is the UK's national, government-backed battery manufacturing development facility in Coventry, offering open-access scale-up infrastructure — from electrode and cell assembly to module/pack build and testing — to automakers, battery startups, and researchers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Battery Manufacturing Services

NAICS

Battery Manufacturing (335910), Electrical Equipment Manufacturing (3353)

SIC

Electrical Industrial Apparatus (3620), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Formation, Testing & Quality/Metrology Equipment for Batteries (EUAFABAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Battery Pack Manufacturing & Module Assembly (EUAFABAI), Battery Cell Manufacturing (EV) (IMACACAB), Cathode Active Materials (CAM) Manufacturing (EUAFABAB), Battery Dismantling, Discharge & Pre-processing (Safe Handling, Shredding, Black Mass Production) (EUAFACAB)

Keywords

• Battery manufacturing scale-up
• Battery cell assembly services
• Battery development laboratory
• Pilot line battery production
• Battery manufacturing training

Headquarters

HQ city

Coventry

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Facility Access and Equipment Usage: Clients pay for access to and usage of UKBIC's manufacturing development capabilities including equipment usage, technical expertise, and process development support.
2. Training Services: Revenue from training courses including Introduction to Battery Manufacturing (£750), Deep Dive Electrode (£450), Deep Dive Cell Assembly (£450), Deep Dive Module and Pack Assembly (£450), and Deep Dive Formation, Ageing and Testing (£450).
3. Government Funding: Initial capital investment funded through government via the Battery Innovation Programme. Additional £74m committed by UK Research and Innovation for enhancements including Flexible Pilot Line, battery development laboratory, clean and dry zone, and cell cyclers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

UKBIC operates the UK's national battery manufacturing development facility in Coventry, providing open-access pilot and industrial-scale production lines that help companies scale battery technologies from laboratory research to mass production. Clients pay to use its electrode manufacturing, cell assembly (cylindrical and pouch), module and pack assembly, formation/ageing/testing, materials characterisation laboratory, and clean and dry zone capabilities, supplemented by EAL-accredited and bespoke training courses.

Product overview

UKBIC is a national battery manufacturing development facility offering a unified platform of scale-up services to bridge the gap between battery research and mass production. The core offering consists of multiple integrated service lines: the Volume Industrialisation Line (VIL) for large-scale cell production, the Flexible Pilot Line (FPL) for early-stage optimisation, electrode manufacturing (mixing, coating, calendering, slitting), cell assembly (cylindrical and pouch formats), module and pack assembly, and formation/ageing/testing services. Supporting infrastructure includes the Battery Development Laboratory for materials characterisation and the Clean and Dry Zone for specialised work. UKBIC also offers a portfolio of training courses including the EAL-approved Introduction to Battery Manufacturing and specialised Deep Dive courses for electrode, cell assembly, module/pack, and formation/ageing/testing. The facility operates as an open-access 'learning factory' where clients retain their own IP.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Flexible Pilot Line (FPL) Pilot-scale battery manufacturing line that bridges the gap between UKBIC's Volume Industrialisation Line and kilogram-scale demonstrators elsewhere. Accommodates multiple solvents, chemistries and cell formats for early-stage optimisation cycles and production trials, with intensive mixing (15-40L batch), extrusion (20L/Hr), electrode process development (1-10L), coating/drying up to 290-305mm width, calendering up to 430mm width, and slitting up to 500mm width.
• Volume Industrialisation Line (VIL) Large-scale industrial battery manufacturing line for producing cells at volumes of tens of thousands and above, enabling validation of manufacturing processes at representative industrial scale for clients planning gigafactory investments.
• Electrode Manufacturing Separate anode and cathode electrode manufacturing lines covering slurry mixing (150-220L typical batch, 400L capacity), coating up to 690mm width at up to 40m/min, calendering up to 700mm width at 135°C and 130 tons pressure, and slitting at up to 100m/min.
• Cell Assembly Two Giga-scale cell assembly lines — one for cylindrical cells (21700 format, up to 20 cells/min) and one for pouch cells (300mm x 100mm format) — both in ISO7 clean rooms with electrolyte fill in -50°C dew point conditions.
• Module and Pack Assembly Agile module and pack assembly capabilities for cylindrical and pouch cells with laser welding and wire bonding. Module assembly up to 0.4m x 0.4m x 0.25m, 60V, 200Ah, 30kg; pack assembly up to 2.5m x 1.75m x 0.5m, 1000V, 135kWh, 1000kg in hazardous voltage environment, for automotive, aerospace, defence and marine applications.
• Formation, Ageing and Testing Battery formation, grading, sorting and testing processes with 2024 cylindrical cell channels (10A rating) and 360 pouch cell channels (50A rating), plus high/room temperature warehouse storage.
• Battery Development Laboratory 320m² materials characterisation, cell analysis and forensic testing laboratory with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and CT scanner for non-destructive analysis.
• Clean and Dry Zone (CDZ) 800m² specialist clean and dry zone environment for cell developers, equipment manufacturers and specialists working in the battery sector, available for rental for development and testing purposes.
• Introduction to Battery Manufacturing Training Course EAL-accredited flagship two-day training course providing essential knowledge on how lithium-ion batteries work, how they are made, and key parameters for production. Priced at £750 excluding VAT.
• Deep Dive - Electrode Manufacture Training Training course delving into electrode manufacturing on UKBIC's Giga-scale Industrial Scale-up Line, covering mixing, coating, and calendering processes. Priced at £450 excluding VAT.
• Deep Dive - Cell Assembly Training Training course showing how UKBIC's house design 21700 cylindrical and 300x100 pouch cell formats are produced on the Industrial Scale-up Line, including clean and dry room access. Priced at £450 excluding VAT.
• Deep Dive - Module and Pack Assembly Training Training course covering module and pack assembly capabilities at UKBIC. Priced at £450 excluding VAT.
• Deep Dive - Formation, Ageing and Testing Training Training course covering formation, ageing, testing, and end of life testing capabilities at UKBIC. Priced at £450 excluding VAT.
• Bespoke Training Programmes Customised specialist battery manufacturing training programmes tailored to individual company requirements, delivered by UKBIC's expert teams with hands-on lineside training on a multi-year contract basis (e.g. three-week programme delivered to Agratas).

Quantifiable outcome

• Carbon footprint reduction of 555,000kg per year from rooftop solar farm installation
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

19 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• ReCAM Consortium (Watercycle Technologies, Recyclus Group, Polaron)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 May 2026UK consortium awarded £3m funding through Battery Innovation Programme to develop lithium-ion battery recycling technology converting black mass into cathode active materials. UKBIC part of consortium using patented short-loop refining process operating at 250kg per hour.
• EMR (RECOVAS Consortium)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 May 2025Led four-year RECOVAS project to establish UK's first circular economy for end-of-life electric vehicle batteries including building recycling facility in Birmingham.
• AltiliumcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 March 2025Collaboration to produce UK's first EV battery cells made from recycled cathode active materials. Successfully manufactured pouch cells at UKBIC's Coventry facility using Altilium's recycled EcoCathode™ NMC 811-2036 CAM.
• Imperial College LondonminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 November 2024Validation partner for Altilium's recycled materials research. Carried out research showing recycled EV battery materials can match and surpass performance of virgin mined materials.
• Powering AustraliaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 August 2024Agreement to strengthen collaboration in battery research, technology and innovation between Australia and UK. Enables Australian businesses to access world-leading battery manufacturing scale-up facilities at UKBIC.
• IlikacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 October 2023£2.7m SiSTEM project for industrialisation of Goliath solid-state batteries. UKBIC undertaking physical trials to demonstrate SSB electrodes at GWh scale using formulation and coating lines. Ilika first to use UKBIC's Flexible Pilot Line.
• Mpac GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 October 2023Global engineering and automation provider partnering with Ilika and UKBIC on SiSTEM project to design, build and commission SSB assembly line capable of delivering A-sample SSB pouch cells to automotive OEMs.
• University of BirminghamminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 October 2023Faraday Institution industry fellowship facilitating sharing of expertise in electrode slurry characterisation between UKBIC and Energy Materials Group led by Professor Emma Kendrick. Part of Faraday Institution's Nextrode project.
• VolkleccoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 August 2023UK battery manufacturer working with UKBIC to develop batteries for automotive market. Volklec using UKBIC as launch base in Coventry automotive epicentre.
• Waygate Technologies (Baker Hughes)coreTechnology or Integration · 27 January 2023Consortium partners in Faraday Battery Challenge funding for feasibility study on digital twins of EV batteries using advanced industrial computed tomography systems. Waygate provides CT scanning technology at UKBIC.
• Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell ProductionminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 May 2022Landmark MoU signed to focus on future collaboration between UKBIC and Germany's Fraunhofer FFB on battery cell production research.
• AMTE PowercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 October 2021£1m Power Up project combining Imperial College London's research with UKBIC's battery manufacturing capabilities. Production contract for Ultra High Power lithium-ion cells at UKBIC.
• Johnson MattheycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 August 2021Part of seven-organisation consortium to develop world-leading prototype solid-state battery technology targeting automotive applications. Includes Faraday Institution, Britishvolt, Oxford University, UKBIC, Emerson & Renwick, and University of Warwick.
• BritishvoltcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 August 2021Two-year £multi-million agreement to develop, assemble and manufacture next generation sample cells for mass production. Worked with UKBIC to quickly develop energy dense 21700 cell for customer evaluations.
• Jaguar Land RovercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 June 2021Collaboration on hydrogen-powered Defender fuel cell project. UKBIC involved in battery testing and development supporting Jaguar Land Rover's Reimagine strategy for zero tailpipe emissions by 2036.
• WMG, University of WarwickcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Consortium partner in UKBIC development. Operates jointly with UKBIC on Flexible Industrialisation Line to facilitate effective transfer from research into industrialisation. Professor David Greenwood serves as CEO of WMG High Value Manufacturing Catapult and sits on UKBIC board.
• Coventry City CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017UKBIC is a limited company owned through Coventry City Council as sole shareholder. Responsible for original grant-funded delivery of UKBIC. Richard Moon, Director of Property Services & Development, serves as UKBIC Board Chair.
• Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise PartnershipcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Part of original consortium that won national competition to establish UKBIC. Contributed to funding and regional economic development support.
• Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Led the national competition to establish UKBIC with support from Innovate UK. Ian Constance, APC CEO, serves on UKBIC board ensuring national strategic overview linked to wider UK industry needs.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production (FFB): Germany's national battery cell production R&D facility, established under the Fraunhofer Society with comparable government backing. Direct peer with whom UKBIC has signed an MoU; both operate open-access scale-up lines targeting industrial-scale cell production for automotive and stationary applications.
• ZSW (Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg): One of Europe's leading battery research centres based in Ulm, Germany. Operates pilot battery production lines covering electrode manufacturing, cell assembly, and testing for both automotive and stationary applications — directly comparable in scope and mandate to UKBIC's Volume Industrialisation Line.
• Argonne National Laboratory (Cell Analysis, Modeling, and Prototyping Facility): US Department of Energy national laboratory operating battery cell fabrication and post-test analysis capabilities for advanced R&D. Comparable in being a publicly funded national facility providing scale-up support to battery developers, though broader mandate beyond batteries alone.
• CEA-Liten: French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission laboratory operating battery pilot lines and testing infrastructure. Comparable national-scale battery R&D facility serving European OEMs and startups, providing parallel capability for cell development and qualification.
• Battery Innovation Center (BIC): Indiana-based non-profit battery R&D and prototyping facility serving US Department of Defense, automotive, and grid clients. Comparable open-access model with manufacturing development capabilities spanning cell to pack, with similar government-affiliated funding structure.

Broad incumbents

• WMG (Warwick Manufacturing Group): University of Warwick research group and UKBIC consortium partner operating the Energy Innovation Centre and battery R&D facilities. Comparable UK battery research capability but academic mandate and broader electrification focus rather than dedicated industrial scale-up.
• RWTH Aachen University (Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components): German university with extensive battery production research including the PEM chair on production of high-performance battery cells. Comparable academic-scale research infrastructure covering cell production processes, though primarily R&D rather than fee-paying industrial scale-up.
• AESC: Global battery cell manufacturer with UK operations supplying Nissan and other OEMs. Uses scale-up infrastructure during gigafactory ramp; broader incumbent in UK battery ecosystem and UKBIC customer per disclosed relationships.
• PowerCo (Volkswagen Group): Volkswagen's battery company building gigafactories across Europe. Operates in-house cell development centres that overlap with UKBIC's value proposition for emerging-chemistry scale-up, though as part of captive VW supply chain rather than open-access service.
• Northvolt: Swedish battery developer and manufacturer operating its own industrial-scale cell production facilities and R&D labs (including Northvolt Labs in Västerås). Comparable in bridging pilot to gigafactory production for European automotive customers, though currently navigating financial restructuring.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ukbic
• Xx.com/uk_bic

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about UK Battery Industrialisation Centre