Charge for electric vehicles in the UK being hampered by lack of batteries.

If Britain does not create more battery plants – and fast – it risks slipping behind in the race to establish an electric car sector.

 

There is no time to waste, with automakers’ ambitious ambitions to ramp up production of battery-powered electric vehicles (EV) and an impending shift in post-Brexit trading restrictions that will limit possibilities to import inexpensive Asian cells.

 

However, a lack of suitable sites for ‘gigafactories,’ as well as some local manufacturers’ decision to import EV batteries from mainland Europe, are posing problems that CEOs and politicians think the government should address.

 

Some fear that if there aren’t enough battery plants, manufacturers may leave, putting 170,000 people out of work.

 

‘It’s not only about gigafactories,’ said Jim O’Boyle, a councillor in Coventry, central England, which has cleared a site for a possible factory but has yet to attract an investor. ‘If we don’t get it right, we could lose everything.’

 

The government has set aside up to £1 billion ($1.2 billion) to help the UK’s electric vehicle battery supply chain.