The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) has appointed former Jaguar Land Rover director, Bob Joyce, to its company board.

An award-winning engineer, Bob brings a wealth of automotive industry experience from a career spanning almost 40 years in the sector. He most recently led Product Creation and Delivery programmes for Jaguar Land Rover as Executive Director prior to his retirement in 2016, and as Group Engineering Director for the ten years prior.

He previously worked for BMW, Rover Group, and before that, for Waukesha Engineering in the USA and Ricardo Consulting Engineers.
Since retiring from Jaguar Land Rover in 2016, he has become a non-executive director for several manufacturing and technology companies, and acts as a senior technical advisor to three technology companies.

Bob is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Leicester. In 2015, he featured in Debrett’s Top 500 most influential people in the UK, and in the top 15 for industry and technology development.

Bob Joyce, UKBIC’s newest board member, said: “Battery development is key to prospering from the transition to electrification in the UK, which is why I’m delighted to have joined UKBIC’s board in this new, exciting role. UKBIC’s work to support industry on the challenging journey to scale production of advanced battery technologies is essential to ensure that the UK captures commercial value from its technology innovation as we move towards future Net Zero commitments.”

Jeff Pratt, UKBIC’s Managing Director, added: “Bob is a great asset to have on our board. His vast strategic experience and technical expertise in the automotive sector will be key to supporting UKBIC in its mission to help UK industry to develop battery technologies for volume manufacture. Bob’s guidance will help to ensure that, through UKBIC, the UK ecosystem continues to build sustained relevance as new technologies move towards industrialisation.”

UKBIC is the UK’s national battery manufacturing development facility delivered through funding from the Government’s Faraday Battery Challenge, managed via Innovate UK (UKRI). It provides capabilities to bridge the gap between battery technology, which has proved promising at laboratory or prototype scale, and successful mass production. The facility, located in Coventry, was opened by the former Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP in July of last year.