February 28, 2025: New UK business Volklec is to manufacture advanced lithium ion batteries in the English Midlands under an exclusive technology transfer deal with China’s Far East Battery.

Volklec said on February 26 that production will start later this year from the firm’s launch base, at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) in Coventry, which provides battery manufacturing scale-up and skills for the battery sector and helps companies develop manufacturing processes.

Experts from FEB, which has been designing and producing batteries for BESS and EV applications since 2009, is supporting Volklec as it prepares to start production.

Two specifications of advanced lithium ion 21700 cylindrical battery cells will be manufactured by Volklec. First to production will be a compact cylindrical cell using NMC chemistry, which the firm said will cater for the broad e-mobility and energy storage sectors.

This will be followed by the launch of what Volklec said will be an innovative power cell aimed primarily at the high value manufacturing sector, in particular specialist applications within automotive, aerospace, marine and off-highway. 

Volklec will be using a 100MWh production line at UKBIC to produce the energy cell, with an additional 1GWh production line to be installed by the end of 2026 to manufacture the power cell. 

The company said its plans include establishing a dedicated 10GWh plant, representing an investment of more than £1 billion ($1.3 billion) and creating more than 1,000 highly skilled jobs by the end of the decade.  

Volklec is led by executive director Phil Popham, a former Jaguar Land Rover executive who has also worked as CEO of Lotus Cars.

Popham said: “There is an urgent need for new independent manufacturers to secure the battery supply chain in the UK. There is no greater transformation today than the electric revolution in transport and mobility.”