By Graeme Purdy, CEO, at solid state battery technology firm Ilika.

Graeme Purdy, CEO, at Ilika

At Ilika, we welcome the energy the Labour government is injecting into delivering a low-carbon UK economy. It is making strides, with the new bodies and investment vehicles needed to do so, and promising to take a pragmatic approach to incentivising and debottlenecking the required infrastructure and industry build out.

But the reality is that the country’s automotive sector is on a white-knuckle ride, experiencing a period of transitory turmoil where the introduction of electric vehicles is making traditional vehicle technology obsolete. Market stresses are being compounded by intense competitive pressure from early mover manufacturers such as Tesla, Nissan, Kia and MG. At the same time, concerns around cost and driving range have driven weaker-than-expected consumer demand for EVs. As result, electric car production in the UK dropped by over 15% in October 2024 (compared to a year earlier) and companies are announcing job cuts and factory losses.

The domestic transportation sector – the largest source of emissions in the UK (accounting for 29.1% in 2023) has a key role to play in decarbonising the global economy and in developing the supply chains to drive the kinds of low-carbon technologies underpinning EVs into reality. The right policy frameworks will help this fast-evolving UK sector retain the economic and carbon reduction benefits of that prize. But to enable that, we need stable, long-term approaches to ensure the investability of the UK EV supply chain – and to offer consumers choice – in the quality, sustainability and safety of home-grown EVs.

Ilika develops solid state batteries for use in EVs. We represent exactly the kind of UK plc government needs to support in order for it to achieve its own – and our – vision for a clean and secure future economy backed by domestic jobs and taxes.

If the Government is serious about helping companies such as Ilika – and in incentivising and accelerating the kinds of green technologies needed to reach net zero – it needs to hold firm on the technology investment tiller through existing Faraday Battery Challenge and Advanced Propulsion Centre funding. Funding programmes such as these need to enhance their offerings by taking a bolder approach to supporting technologies which are strategically important to the UK green economy.

We welcome the recent Budget commitment of £2bn of capital and R&D funding to 2030 for zero-emission vehicle manufacturing and their supply chains, but any hiatus in deploying these funding streams runs the risk of being very detrimental to the development of the new technologies which will help the UK remain competitive with automotive supply chains elsewhere. There’s no time to waste – every week or month of delayed implementation, reduces our opportunity to do that.

We would also like government to back this long-term and strategically important part of UK industry by providing appropriate incentives for developers and investors, and committing more direct financial support for EVs, until the transition stabilises. Subsidies and incentive schemes have successfully played a role in turbo-charging the UK’s world-leading offshore wind sector and can do the same for the EV industry. A healthy, competitive EV industry will help this country meet its socio-economic prosperity and environmental missions.