Letters: June 2023

Battery strategy

Anthony King described the uncertain future for gigafactory manufacture of lithium-ion batteries in the UK. Over 45 years ago, the first multi-centre, two-nation EU research programme was dedicated to developing new materials for advanced batteries. I ensured that John Goodenough’s Nobel-winning discovery of layered oxide cathodes within this programme was patented worldwide.

For very valid reasons at that time, the emphasis was on developing all-solid-state lithium cells with polymer electrolyte; still the ideal. There was, and still is, an excellent diversity of relevant expertise across UK universities. But there was never a strategy broader than that which we researchers ourselves developed. When Sony revealed the lithium-ion battery some years later there was no effective means to develop a serious UK manufacturing base. I believe that many millions of pounds flowed in from the patent but there seems to have been no effective route to develop a successful UK lithium battery industry.

So what now? Should the focus be on subsidising copycat gigafactories to attract or retain electric vehicle manufacturing in the UK? Increasing vehicle sizes and numbers in recent years have created unhealthy, anti-social environments in towns and cities that electric vehicles, with tyre wear a major issue, will do little to improve. Progressive urban administrations seek a more sustainable, more equitable and healthier future where cars no longer dominate. There are many stationary applications for batteries that might use sodium-ion technology with more environmentally sustainable materials requirements than lithium-ion. If there is to be a strategy for batteries, perhaps develop first a vision for transport and energy storage in a low-carbon, life-affirming economy. Then pursue the battery requirements that follow.

Bruce Tofield FRSC
London, UK