City Planners’ Green Light for UK’s Largest Gigafactory

Paul Myles

TU-Editor

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14th January 2022

The UK’s ambitions to lead the automotive industry in battery technology has moved a step closer with regulators approving plans for the nations largest production facility.

West Midlands Gigafactory joint venture has received the green light by local authority planning committees supporting the outline planning application for its site in Coventry and Warwickshire. The Gigafactory which will result in £2.5Bn ($3.45Bn) investment, creating up to 6,000 new highly skilled jobs directly alongside thousands more in the wider supply chain in Coventry, Warwickshire and the surrounding region. Historically, the area has been the hub of British automotive production boasting iconic brands past and present including Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land-Rover, Rover and Austin.

Production ready from 2025, the 530,000sqm facility will manufacture high-tech lithium-ion batteries for the global automotive and energy storage industries. The Gigafactory will have capacity to deliver up to 60GWh by the end of the decade. Mike Murray, project director, said: “This is an important milestone for the West Midlands Gigafactory. With outline planning permission supported, the site has everything in place that future investors, likely to be drawn from the global battery industry, need for a state-of-the-art Gigafactory. Thanks to this decision, we are now in strong position to progress our discussions with the global automotive and energy storage industries. Located at the heart of the UK’s automotive industry, the Gigafactory is closer to almost every car manufacturing plant in the UK than any of the other proposed or Gigafactories under construction making it an ideal location for global battery manufacturers.”

— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_