Time is running out if the UK is to create an electric vehicle battery supply chain or risk losing its automotive manufacturing industry, an industry expert has said.
Industry veteran Dr Colin Herron made his comments in the wake of the demise Britishvolt. Speaking to BusinessLive as the start-up's dream of 3,000 Northumberland jobs at a mammoth gigafactory lay in tatters, Dr Herron, a professor of practice at Newcastle University, said he is working on a manifesto to drive home the urgent need for battery making capacity as the Government's ban on new petrol and diesel cars looms from 2030.
Dr Herron, who did not have a formal relationship with Britishvolt but had been working with universities and SMEs to develop skills, research and supply chain links for the start-up, said that the firm's ambitious plan to create its own battery cell technology had wider benefits for the North East in the way that a manufacturer with an existing product did not.
