Human beings and batteries are a bad mix: water and dust can cause disastrous short circuits in the cells that power electric cars, risking blazing fires. So the few people allowed into the vast clean rooms at Envision AESC’s factory in Sunderland must don a full body suit and go through an air shower first. Even the Guardian’s notebook is switched for paper that does not shed fibres.
Once inside, robots rule the lines. They cut rolls of electrode materials to size, layer them on top of each other and weld them to an accuracy not possible with human hands, before they are injected with electrolyte that will enable lithium ions to move one way and electrons another, powering motors of the Nissan cars made next door.
