Labor has pledged to create at least 30,000 jobs by promising to build three gigafactories for the production of electric car batteries in Britain by 2025, as it warned the country was lagging behind its European competitors in the race to give up gasoline energy.
Amid recent reports that the UK is facing a battle to keep production of electric vehicles (EVs) manufactured by manufacturers already in the UK, the party has committed to a major expansion of co-financing of gigafactories. Further research suggests that countries such as Germany, which already has a large car industry, are well advanced in establishing plants.
Research by the independent institution Faraday suggests that Germany will have 150,000 more jobs in electric vehicles than the UK in 2030, France will have 20,000 more and Hungary 30,000 more in battery manufacturing and supply chain.
It comes after the independent Climate Change Committee, which advises the government on its progress towards reducing UK carbon emissions, warned last week that unless battery factories are in the UK. ” vehicle manufacturers are unlikely to manufacture electric vehicles in the UK “.
He added: “This means the UK will have little control over the life cycle, imported and embedded emissions in the manufacture of batteries and electric vehicles. It would also be detrimental to the job opportunities available to UK workers.”
Labor said its estimate of an additional 30,000 jobs at gigafactories was based on a calculation by the Faraday Institution, which found that every GWh produced by a gigafactory would support 500 jobs both directly and in the chain. related supply. An average gigabyte of 20 GWh would create 10,000 jobs.
The party has already pledged to make ownership of electric vehicles more affordable, offering interest-free loans for new and used electric vehicles to those on low- and middle-income earners. “Work plans will reduce bills, create jobs and help achieve zero net,” said Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary. “A Labor government will revive the British economy by seizing the opportunities of the future.”
The UK is likely to have a battery production capacity of around 68 GWh per year by 2028, which the Climate Change Committee said should be doubled by 2040. So far, a gigaplant of batteries in Northumberland has received about £ 100 million in government funding. The Britishvolt project aims to produce power cells for 300,000 packs of electric vehicle batteries a year at a factory on the site of the former Blyth power plant.
On the other hand, last year an announcement was made of a £ 1bn joint venture between Nissan, Envision and Sunderland City Council to build batteries for the carmaker.