Our story
The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) was founded in 2018 and is currently part of the UK Government's Faraday Battery Challenge.
The £130 million UKBIC is a pioneering concept in the race to develop battery technology for the transition to a greener future. The unique facility provides the missing link between battery technology, which has proved promising at laboratory or prototype scale, and successful mass production.
Based in Coventry, the publicly-funded battery product development facility welcomes manufacturers, entrepreneurs, researchers and educators, and can be accessed by any organisation with existing or new battery technology – if that technology will bring green jobs and prosperity to the UK.
UKBIC is a key part of the Faraday Battery Challenge, a Government programme to fast-track the development of cost-effective, high-performance, durable, safe, low-weight and recyclable batteries.
In addition to funding from the Faraday Battery Challenge through UK Research and Innovation and the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, UKBIC is also part-funded through the West Midlands Combined Authority. The project has been delivered through a consortium of Coventry City Council, Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and WMG, at the University of Warwick.
Coventry City Council and Coventry Airport Ltd have formed a Joint Venture Partnership to secure planning permission for a gigafactory at Coventry Airport. An outline planning application was submitted by the JV Partners in July 2021 for 5.7 million sq ft, following a detailed pre-application consultation process. As of late 2025, a final decision on the exact location was still pending.
Within the wider West Midlands, Coventry and Warwickshire has emerged as a centre of excellence in battery production. It is home to UKBIC, WMG at the University of Warwick, and the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC). Coventry and Warwickshire are also home to several leading car makers, including Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin Lagonda, London EV Company, and Tata Motors. One-third of UK-made cars and one-quarter of UK-made engines come from West Midlands production lines; the region employs 46,500 in the automotive sector; the sector delivers £3.2bn GVA per year.
Our advice
At UKBIC, we use expertise from a variety of different areas to plan the requirements for industry, research and local planning – including OEM, University and Council Officers. We also learn a lot about the procurement of specialist equipment from all over the globe as well as the delivery of equipment.
Our Changeprint
Our Changeprint can be measured by the number of companies attracted to both the UKBIC facility and that want to be long-term OEM customers of the gigafactory; the number of quality, well-paid jobs created; and by our contribution to battery technology development in the UK's transition to a greener, more prosperous future.
