The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) – the national battery manufacturing facility providing manufacturing scale-up and skills for the battery sector - in conjunction with Warwickshire County Council, is set to offer a free of charge two-day training course in battery manufacturing.

Participants who work for a company based in the county, and are aged 50 and above, can apply to Warwickshire County Council’s New Direction – 50+ Skills Investment Fund, for a place on the fully funded Introduction to battery manufacturing training.

In addition to this, there are fully funded places available for anyone in full-time employment through the Skills Escalator Fund. To be eligible, you must be a small to medium sized business or self-employed and based in Warwick and Stratford with Nuneaton & Bedworth and Rugby coming soon. Training must be completed by March 2025. Both grant schemes allow five places per company.

Jonty Deeley-Williamson, Head of Learning & Development, UKBIC, added: “It’s fantastic to get such brilliant support from Warwickshire County Council to boost skills across the county in battery manufacturing. These courses will give employees who work for a company based in the county a helping hand to work in the growing battery manufacturing sector.”

By 2040, the Faraday Institution estimates that the battery industry could support 170,000 jobs nationally in the automotive industry and a further 100,000 jobs in battery manufacturing and the wider battery supply chain. Significant reskilling and upskilling programmes will be needed to cater for the 35,000 jobs in gigafactories and 65,000 jobs in the battery supply chain that could be created.

Louise Stolz, Future Skills Business Support Advisor, Warwickshire Skills Hub, said: "Warwickshire County Council’s Future Skills Fund is a multi-strand programme, designed to develop work related skills and knowledge for new and existing employees, in new and emerging technologies, such as battery technology. It’s great that Warwickshire businesses can now access courses with the UKBIC in Battery Manufacturing and really supports the work Warwickshire Skills Hub are doing around the future skills agenda.

The next Introduction to battery manufacturing is being held on 22 and 23 September. Anyone wishing to find out more about training at UKBIC and the free training courses should contact: training@ukbic.co.uk



Notes to editor:

To arrange an interview, please email richard.robinson@ukbic.co.uk or phone +44 (0) 7503 628892

UKBIC is the UK’s national manufacturing battery development facility, providing manufacturing scale-up and skills for the battery sector.

The purpose-built facility is where businesses develop their battery manufacturing processes at the scale they need to move to industrial production and where those working in the industry can develop new skills by working on the production line, alongside UKBIC’s specialist teams.

Created with an initial investment of £130m, an additional £74m has now been committed by UK Research and Innovation to enhance the facility by installing a new pilot line to bridge the gap between UKBIC’s larger scale offering and small-scale demonstrators available elsewhere. Funding is also being used to support the construction of a new battery development laboratory, a clean and dry zone, and cell cyclers.

Opened in July 2021, the Coventry-based facility can be accessed by organisations with existing or new battery technology, or companies looking at entering the industry. UKBIC doesn’t retain customer IP.

UKBIC is part of the £610m Faraday Battery Challenge, which is delivering a research and innovation programme that covers "Lab to Factory" development, cutting-edge research, national scale-up infrastructure, and skills and training.

UKBIC’s construction was part-funded through the West Midlands Combined Authority and was delivered through a consortium of Coventry City Council, Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and WMG, at the University of Warwick.

UKBIC is part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded Electrification Skills Network (ESN). ESN’s purpose is to create a comprehensive framework for electrification skills in the UK. Other key partners in the initiative include Coventry University, Enginuity, the University of Warwick, and the Electric Revolution Skills Hub. ESN aims to bridge the gap between employers, accrediting organisations, and skills providers.