Williams Advanced Engineering and Unipart are teaming up to open Britain’s largest independent vehicle battery factory in Coventry. The new site will open for business in 2019 – and Aston Martin will be its first customer.
Called Hyperbat Limited, the new electric car battery plant will create 90 jobs. The first vehicle to use batteries built there will be the Aston Martin Rapide E.
The collaboration will build upon Williams Advanced Engineering’s experience of supplying batteries to FIA Formula E racers, and Unipart’s expertise in manufacturing, logistics and supply.
Fittingly, the battery factory will be housed in a 100-year-old building, which until recently produced vehicle exhausts.
Business secretary Greg Clark said the factory “will develop new vehicle battery technologies and create high-skilled jobs in Coventry.
“Through the Industrial Strategy, the government us building on our world leading strengths in auto manufacturing and clean growth, making the UK the go-to place for these technologies.”
It’s not just electric cars that Hyperbat Limited is targeting. “Hyperbat will also look into high performance battery applications beyond automotive,” said Williams Advanced Engineering MD Craig Wilson, “delivering innovative technology and high value manufacturing, as well as jobs for the next generation workforce”.
The factory will specialise in high performance, low volume and fully flexible batteries and, said Unipart MD Carol Burke, “be highly adaptable to meet the changing requirements of future demands”.
Production will begin in Q1 2019 – and additional customers for Hyperbat Limited will be announced “in due course”.