Eve Energy, the Chinese electric vehicle battery maker, is reportedly in talks to invest about $1.5 billion (£1.2 billion) in a new factory in the United Kingdom, The Sunday Times reports, citing sources close to negotiations.
Investment plans
Eve Energy is now in “advanced negotiations” to build a 5.7m sq ft battery factory on the outskirts of Coventry, West Midlands. It will form one of the primary parts of the upcoming UK Centre for Electrification, which is basically an investment zone in the metropolitan county.
The world’s leading cylindrical battery maker apparently plans to initially allocate at least $1.5 billion (£1.2 billion) into developing the largest gigafactory in Britain.
The next phases will expand the site’s capacity to 60 GWh, potentially double the size of Nissan’s Sunderland battery factory.
Gigafactory location
The West Midlands has numerous automotive factories, including those operated by Jaguar Land Rover, Aston Martin Lagonda, and BMW. It is also home to the UK’s biggest battery research center, the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre.
In that sense, the site will rise within the planned bigger project, the UK Centre of Electrification, a joint venture between local councils and the Coventry Airport owners.
Funding
The Coventry gigafactory plan could draw in a total private funding of $2.5 billion (£2 billion). Notably, the investment relies on hundreds of millions of pounds in government subsidies, likely under the £4.5 billion pot of aid for key manufacturing industries like the automotive sector.
Eve’s potential investment is expected to generate up to 6,000 jobs in partnership with the local government and Coventry airport, where the planned battery gigafactory will rise.
According to the report, Eve Energy has already secured electric vehicle battery makers to take the batteries that it will produce at the new gigafactory. However, it has yet to name which automakers are in the lineup.
