UK at industrial and automotive turning point as battery demand set to quadruple by 2030

The UK government has set out the actions it plans to take to ensure that local industry has access to critical minerals from “responsible, reliable and resilient sources.”

To meet the rising demand for electric vehicles, Benchmark forecasts battery demand from passenger EVs in the UK will quadruple between now and 2030 to over 100 gigawatt-hours (GWh).

To produce these batteries, the UK has a planned 2030 capacity of around 70 GWh, including a 40 GWh gigafactory announced last year by India’s Tata Motors.

In 2023, the government launched the Critical Minerals Refresh. As part of this a Task and Finish Group was set up to give recommendations to the government on Industry Resilience for Critical Minerals. A report by this group was published in December last year.

Simon Moores, chief executive of Benchmark,was a key part of this group, using Benchmark’s industry-leading data and analysis to give deep insights on the challenges facing the UK’s battery and critical mineral supply chains.

The group laid out seven recommendations, all of which have now broadly been accepted by the government.

Watch Benchmark CEO Simon Moores give evidence to the UK House of Commons Business and Trade Committee

Simon Moores, chief executive of Benchmark said:

“The UK is at an automotive and industrial turning point.

“Its future hinges on access to the critical minerals that are driving this new global future and transition away from fossil fuels.

“Lithium ion batteries and their raw materials are at the crux of this 21st century industrial challenge.

“Yet this global battery arms race is leaving the UK woefully behind and unprepared.

“The supply chains for lithium, nickel, copper, rare earths, graphite, cobalt, and manganese need to be developed in lock step with downstream industrial ambitions.

“The building of gigafactories needs to mean the buildout of mines and refineries, the construction of wind turbines has to be alongside developing sustainable rare earth elements and magnet production, and more copper than ever before needs to be secured to build the energy-carrying pipelines.

“This begins with the HM Government’s Task and Finish Group recommendations blueprint which Benchmark was proud to play a part.”

Identification of risks

The report identified several key risks:

What the government will do

The UK plans to work with industry to develop resilient and diversified supply chains. Part of this will require building out the UK’s domestic production of critical minerals.

“The UK is a strategic location for midstream processing, including refining and materials manufacturing, building on its globally competitive capabilities in this field,” the government said.

Although the UK has a strong history in the chemicals industry, the country currently has very little lithium chemicals production, though there are several projects in the pipeline such as Green Lithium’s refinery in Teesside.

Key to developing a resilient supply chain is building strong relationships with other countries. The government says its international engagement is focused on “helping like-minded, resource-rich countries” and that it will “continue to build international trade and partnerships on critical minerals to support our security of supply of critical minerals.”

The UK is currently a member of the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), which also includes the US, Canada and other countries, and last year signed the Atlantic Declaration with the US.

The government also acknowledges the key role recycling will play in developing a circular economy. The government says it is “exploring regulatory mechanisms to promote recovery of critical minerals from waste.”

Altilium Clean Technology, a UK-based recycling technology developer, this week announced a multimillion-pound partnership with Japanese automaker Nissan and battery maker AESC to improve the sustainability of UK-made batteries through recycling. Altilium could become one of the first producers of cathode active material in the UK.

Sustainable sourcing of critical minerals is another key area that the government has said it will focus on. It says it wants to “[play] a leading role in global efforts to drive up ESG performance.”

The UK Department for Business and Trade will publish an update on its critical mineral strategy this summer.

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