UK BATTERY PLANT

[grober]

Britishvolt: Electric car battery plant gets government funding

JUST not sure who is going to buy the batteries, since most car manufacturers like to source in-house. Nissan are intending to build their own plant in collaboration with the Chinese.

Nissan confirms Sunderland battery plant & new BEV model | electrive.com

www.electrive.com

 

[Petrol Pete]

Taxpayers money funding a private company who use materials from 'various' sources around the world. The plus side is it will create some jobs , the Negative side is that they will shut it down the moment it becomes clear that the batteries can be made cheaper elsewhere.

And as time goes on these batteries will get cheaper and cheaper to make .

Sorry , just the older I get the more cynical I become when I see this kind of news.

 

[alexanderfoti]

I agree. Why is the taxpayer funding it? Let the companies make the private investments, then give subsidies based on production.

 

[markjay]

I agree. Why is the taxpayer funding it? Let the companies make the private investments, then give subsidies based on production.

Because if the taxpayer won't fund it, Nissan will build it elsewhere. This was supposed to be one of the benefits of Brexit, i.e. that we can provide this sort of government support to attract multinationals (we couldn't do that as an EU member state).

EDIT: to clarify, both factories will have public funds invested in them.

 

[grober]

There's a convenient mythology associated with new car plants which suits both manufacturer and government agendas. In the past new car factories meant jobs for thousands but with advances in automation and robotics these are more likely to be counted in hundreds today.

 

[markjay]

There's a convenient mythology associated with new car plants which suits both manufacturer and government agendas. In the past new car factories meant jobs for thousands but with advances in automation and robotics these are more likely to be counted in hundreds today.

True, though factories still keep nearby towns prosperous due to peripheral jobs e.g. security, cleaners, recycling contractors, food providers, as well as local shops and pubs, petrol stations, hotels for visiting businesspeople etc etc, not to mention local workshops supplying parts - there's a large ring of prosperity around each of these plants, which extends well beyibd those working on the production line. I have witnessed this first hand during the years that I contracted for Lucas / TRW / Delphi Diesel Systems plants in the SE.

 

[ChipChop]

There's a convenient mythology associated with new car plants which suits both manufacturer and government agendas. In the past new car factories meant jobs for thousands but with advances in automation and robotics these are more likely to be counted in hundreds today.

My understanding is that battery electric powered vehicles use far fewer drivetrain components compared to internal combustion engine powered vehicles.

Logically that means the third party components supply chain and the jobs associated with it are lost. These jobs are often local to the manufacturing plants due to just in time stock control.

 

[grober]

True, though factories still keep nearby towns prosperous due to peripheral jobs e.g. security, cleaners, recycling contractors, food providers, as well as local shops and pubs, petrol stations, hotels for visiting businesspeople etc etc, not to mention local workshops supplying parts - there's a large ring of prosperity around each of these plants, which extends well beyibd those working on the production line. I have witnessed this first hand during the years that I contracted for Lucas / TRW / Delphi Diesel Systems plants in the SE.

You will gather that I'm not a great believer in trickle-down economics. There was a rather good example recently on Simon Reeve's series on the Lake District where he contrasted the stark economic division in the town of Barrow in Furness--- there were those who worked at the submarine plant who were prosperous and well-paid and then there were the others who were relegated to low-paid menial jobs when they could get them or unemployment. There was a great deal of plant nepotism in evidence as well. In the end it still came down to numbers-there were simply not enough well paid jobs to go round.

 

[markjay]

You will gather that I'm not a great believer in trickle-down economics. There was a rather good example recently on Simon Reeve's series on the Lake District where he contrasted the stark economic division in the town of Barrow in Furness--- there were those who worked at the submarine plant who were prosperous and well-paid and then there were the others who were relegated to low-paid menial jobs when they could get them or unemployment. There was a great deal of plant nepotism in evidence as well. In the end it still came down to numbers-there were simply not enough well paid jobs to go round.

Is not having a plant there a better alternative?

In other words, when an economc pyramid is flattened into a line, everyone is equally poor.

Which is better? Discuss....

 

[grober]

My greater concern to be honest is who British Volt are going to sell all these batteries to, bearing in mind that most EV manufacturers already build their own or have considerable interests/stakes in those who do--can they compete on the EV battery open market?

Britishvolt gets £100m boost to build UK’s first large-scale ‘gigafactory’

The deal to build an electric car battery plant near Blyth will bring up to 3,000 jobs to the area by 2028

www.theguardian.com

quote:-
The government’s Automotive Transformation Fund will invest alongside asset management company Abrdn and its majority-owned property investment arm, Tritax, to fund a sale and leaseback deal for the huge building that will house the electric car battery factory, near Blyth in Northumberland.
What does this mean?--- That the ATF plus Aberdeen Asset Management +Triax are going to build the factory and British Volt are going to rent it back from them? If that's the case then it's essentially a property investment not a technological one.
questions just questions

 

[markjay]

Aftermarket replacement batteries, maybe.....? Surely there'll be a market for 'pattern' batteries...?

 

[merc estate]

Maybe its so we are not held to ransom for batteries by the rest of the world, like gas and electric now.

 

[grober]

Maybe its so we are not held to ransom for batteries by the rest of the world, like gas and electric now.

Good point- now all we need to do is get the raw materials/elements from the rest of the world to make the batteries?
Seriously I hope the plant is a success but the name Delorean keeps popping into my head for some reason- a prime example of a product looking for a market rather than the other way round.

 

[optimusprime]

Battery Plant is a growing industry ...

 

[BoristheBounce]

There's a convenient mythology associated with new car plants which suits both manufacturer and government agendas. In the past new car factories meant jobs for thousands but with advances in automation and robotics these are more likely to be counted in hundreds today.

Well as Nissan is just up the road from me I can only quote figures I know, but Nissan currently employ over 6,000 people with more on the way. In addition other manufacturers supplying Nissan add up to another 27,000 jobs, because Nissan like most other car manufacturers only build cars and don't actually manufacture the bulk of it other companies do that; 75% of which are local to Nissan.

This was the factory which was going to be moved to Europe if Brexit happened don't forget; instead they closed the plant in Spain!

 

[Petrol Pete]

The Nissan story is great , but it still has to employ more if it's to help offset the +/- 9K people who lost their jobs when Honda in Swindon closed after nearly 30 years. Ironically not Brexit related but simply down to building only one type of car that was not a particularly big seller in the UK and moving the whole thing back to Japan.

 

[BoristheBounce]

The Nissan story is great , but it still has to employ more if it's to help offset the +/- 9K people who lost their jobs when Honda in Swindon closed after nearly 30 years. Ironically not Brexit related but simply down to building only one type of car that was not a particularly big seller in the UK and moving the whole thing back to Japan.

The daft thing is Nissan Sunderland builds cars and ships them all over the world its not just a UK supplier, Its all down to efficiency and Nissan Sunderland is well known to be the most efficient plant in the world, which is why there was no way it was going to close after Brexit.
The other thing of course is that the North East doesn't have any history (other than Nissan) in car manufacture, so there was no old guard trying to tell Nissan how they should do it!
When I was a lad at British Leyland we wouldn't do it like that

 

[Petrol Pete]

HUM Swindon built cars for the world market . The latest version of the Type R was built there, the first ones off the line were all LHD for when the car launched in the USA..seems an odd place to launch a FWD manual only 'pocket rocket' but I digress.

They stopped the CRV production because very few were sold here (I think it went to Mexico) . all eggs in one basket with just the the Civic was not sustainable.

The engine manufacturing plant built more engines than cars as they are small and easily shipped worldwide. I hear they might still be building engines there , or have only just finished.

More power to the Nissan plant !!

 

[Evmetrics]

One thing to keep in mind is that ev batteries and storage batteries are pretty close, the total operational capacity for battery storage in the UK is 1.3GW with a forecast to double that in the short term and a long term ceiling of 50GW.

That alone could account for all the output of the factory well into the current decade …

 

[grober]

Britishvolt: UK battery start-up set to be bought by Australian firm

Recharge Industries is named preferred bidder for collapsed battery firm Britishvolt.

www.bbc.co.uk