The UK is positioning itself at the forefront of the global battery sector, recognising the technology as a cornerstone of its industrial and economic strategy. The overall vision of the government’s Industry Strategy emphasises growth, innovation and resilience across six frontier sectors, including advanced manufacturing and batteries.
Central to this strategy is the £452m Battery Innovation Programme, designed to accelerate breakthrough technologies, strengthen domestic supply chains, and create high-value jobs across automotive, energy storage, aerospace and defence.
Demand for batteries is projected to reach 115GWh by 2035 and as such, support for scale-ups, gigafactory development and fostering international partnerships is going to be vital, as will be tackling challenges such as energy costs and regulatory barriers. Also key however, will be developing and nurturing the skills base around batteries so that the undoubted potential that resides within the UK can be realised.
Speaking at a recent Westminster Forum Conference on the next steps for the UK battery sector, Jonty Deeley-Williamson, Head, Learning and Development, UK Battery Industrialisation Centre, warned that while universities in the UK provide a sound base around battery knowledge, the country is lacking the level 2-5 skills that would be required at the core of running a gigafactory.
There’s an oft spoken about valley of death in the UK between research and development and mass manufacture, and this certainly seems to apply when it comes to the landscape around batteries.
There is a disparity between the UK’s current battery capacity and the projected internal demand by 2035, and the development of skills will be key to addressing this. Currently, across light and heavy duty automotive, aerospace, maritime, rail, off highway and energy storage, the UK has only met around half of the required demand for 2035. “The need for more gigafactories is absolutely paramount in the UK’s strategy,” said Jonny.
The UK battery sector in numbers
In 2024, the UK produced around 896,000 cars. From an EV perspective, most of those were for the export market. “This is an interesting statistic,” added Jonny. “The UK has a mandate for zero emissions vehicles, however, most EV manufacturing in the UK is not for the domestic market. Toyota’s site in Burnaston for example, manufacturers – almost exclusively – left-hand drive vehicles for Europe.”
Across the wider issue of skills Jonny highlighted that a misconception exists in terms of meeting EV requirements in the future. The assumption is that workforces will merely be moved from ICE towards EV and battery manufacturing. “This is not the case,” he added. “They will be running as parallel streams which means we are going to have to find an extra 40,000-60,000 jobs in EV and battery manufacturing, alongside the current production of ICE vehicles.”
To support the EV and battery industry in 2040, the UK will need an additional 270,000 jobs (this is not including wider sectors such as aerospace and maritime). These will include direct support for passenger and light commercial EV production; the manufacture of HGVs, buses and small leightweight vehicles; battery manufacturing plants and the supply chain.
“That’s an enormous amount of jobs that will have to appear – in essence – from nowhere,” Jonny added. “There will be an opportunity to move people over from allied industries but we are essentially talking about new jobs for new people coming into the sector by 2040.
“Around 40-50% of the workforce in 2040 is not yet in work, so it’s really important to project these employment opportunities. Girls are turned off a career in engineering around the age of eight, for example, so we really need to work hard on that STEM piece to engage young girls – 50% of the future workforce – and get them interested in engineering to become the future of the sector.”
The battery manufacturing workforce
The level of jobs required in the battery sector also throws up some interesting statistics. Jonny stated that many of the roles that the sector will need will not require degree level qualifications. Despite the UK being a country that still pushes the importance of degrees, around 80-85% of the jobs required in the battery sector will be level 2 or 3, and will be in the areas of production, maintenance and engineering.
“Unfortunately, with the government’s push towards higher education, the FE landscape has been pushed into black hole. We used to be the pride of the world when it came to apprenticeships and lower level qualifications, but in recent memory these areas have been severely underfunded as more money has gone to universities and higher level qualifications. So, we have a huge opportunity to reinvest and reinvigorate the FE sector to ensure we have enough people at the right levels of skills in order to do these jobs. While these are lower qualification level, this does not mean they are lower intelligence level.”
The UK will require 180 battery manufacturing jobs per GWh per year in order to meet demand, not including the wider supply chain. This means another 35,000 jobs in battery manufacturing plants by 2040, with a further 65,000 in the supply chain. Only one per cent of these jobs will be in management roles, so battery manufacturing will urgently need support from the FE sector to fill those level 2 and 3 positions.
The good news is that most equipment required for battery manufacturing already exists within allied industries. Manufacturing of battery electrodes for example, can draw comparisons from food and beverage and the pharmaceutical sectors. And cell assembly is similar to electronics and automotive. Therefore, most of these skills can be moved and acquired from other sectors and industries, particularly those that are seeing a downward trend in the workforce due to automation and will therefore will have workforce availability.
The UK’s ambitions in the battery sector hinge not just on technology and investment, but critically on developing the right workforce. With tens of thousands of new roles projected by 2040, the focus must be on level 2-5 skills, apprenticeships and STEM engagement. Leveraging experience from allied industries can accelerate capability, but revitalising further education is essential to fill these positions.
Success in battery manufacturing will depend on a coordinated approach that combines innovation, investment and skills development, ensuring the UK can meet domestic demand, drive export growth and secure a leading position in the global clean energy transition.
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