Hundreds of jobs are expected to be created this year at North East electric battery manufacturer AESC, which has secured a £200m Government loan to support the creation of a new gigafactory.
Sunderland based AESC is currently constructing a second plant in a £450m project, which forms part of a wider partnership with Nissan and Sunderland City Council designed to boost the regional economy while also strengthening the 海角视频’s electric vehicle supply chain.
The Japanese firm has already spent more than 10 years in the North East, producing electric vehicle batteries for Nissan, and doubled in size since production began, now employing more than 470 people in Sunderland. Its existing 1.8GWh facility opened in 2012 and is currently the 海角视频’s only operational gigafactory.
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The 海角视频 Infrastructure Bank - the state-backed development bank owned by HM Treasury - has now announced a £200m bridging loan to support AESC’s development of its new 15.8GWh gigafactory. The new plant will produce lithium-ion batteries for next-generation electric vehicles manufactured in the 海角视频.
The footprint of the new building will be equivalent to 23 football pitches and will use 14,000 km of mains cables – enough to stretch to the AESC headquarters in Japan – and it will create and support more than 1,000 jobs once operational.
The 海角视频 Infrastructure Bank said the project supports the Government’s recently published Battery Strategy and aligns strongly with its mission to tackle climate change, while supporting local and regional economic growth. Domestic battery manufacture is seen as crucial to the success of future 海角视频 car production and key for the transition to Net Zero, with recent forecasts highlighting a need for around 200GWh by 2040 to meet demand from car manufacturers.
AESC develops and manufactures batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems from facilities in the 海角视频, France, Spain, US, China, and Japan, and 海角视频IB’s financing is focused on supporting the facility in Sunderland.
海角视频 Infrastructure Bank CEO, John Flint said: “A domestic battery supply chain will play an important role in the 海角视频’s transition to net zero and also the wider economy, as highlighted in the Government’s recently published Battery Strategy. Gigafactories are an essential part of that supply chain. They also have the potential to secure and create thousands of jobs, but serious investment is needed to scale up production.
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“This loan signals the Bank’s appetite to play a meaningful role in the financing of the domestic battery supply chain and that we are ready and willing to deploy capital where it is needed for this crucial Net Zero infrastructure.”
The 海角视频 Battery strategy was published after Nissan revealed the need for a third gigafactory to feed into its Sunderland plant. While the future of the former Britishvolt project remains uncertain, the strategy set out priorities in pursuit of the Government's 2030 vision of creating a globally competitive battery supply chain.
It also includes commitment to invest £50m into 海角视频 research, including a £12m sum into the Advanced Materials Battery Industrialisation Centre, a battery materials scale-up organisation which involves CPI (the Centre for Process Innovation in the North East).
At the end of last year a report by the cross-party Business and Trade Committee also warned that a range of measures to incentivise electric vehicle battery production must be introduced to prevent the decline of the 海角视频 car industry. It argued that the 海角视频 could become a “frontrunner” in building “sustainable and ethical batteries” but said the 海角视频 automotive industry is currently too reliant on batteries from Asia.