26 April 2024
Mpac Group
plc
("Mpac")
Award of £1.2m order for a
1.5MWh solid state battery assembly line
Mpac Group plc (AIM: MPAC), a global
leader in engineering and automation providing assembly and
packaging solutions, announces that it has received a £1.2m order
to deliver a SiSTEM pilot battery assembly line secured by funding
from the Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF), partnered with
Ilika, Agratas and The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre
("UKBIC").
Mpac will work closely with Ilika
plc and the UKBIC to design, build and commission a 1.5MWh solid
state battery ('SSB') assembly line capable of delivering Ilika's
Goliath SSB prototype large-format pouch cells to automotive OEMs
and Tier 1 suppliers. The project now has the additional support of
Agratas who will play a pivotal role using their manufacturing
expertise to inform the design of the SSB stacking and assembly
equipment and to identify additional processes to be incorporated
into its standard Lithium-ion Batteries (LIB) line to enable the
production of SSB's. This collaboration with UK institutions,
battery innovators and high-volume manufacturers highlights the
value that Mpac provides to the industry and further cements its
ambitions within the sector. The SSB assembly line is expected to
be fully operational at Ilika's facility by the end of Q2
2025.
This project provides further growth
within the Clean Energy sector for Mpac, utilising its expertise in
assembly across multiple market sectors to provide innovative
solutions for battery cell manufacturing.
The ATF is a funding programme
created to support large-scale industrialisation accessed through
the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) and delivered in collaboration
with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and Innovate UK.
Up to £850 million of funding will be invested in developing a
high-value end-to-end electrified automotive supply chain in the
UK. The fund is highlighted as an important mechanism to reach
targets in the UK Government's 10-Point Plan for a green industrial
revolution and its Transport Decarbonisation Plan.
Adam Holland, Chief Executive Officer at
Mpac Group plc said:
''We are delighted to be
participating in The Automotive Transformation Fund project in
partnership with Ilika, the UKBIC and Agratas, following the award
of the prestigious APC grant for our SiSTEM pilot battery assemble
line. Mpac is a market leader in complex automation, and we
are keen to apply our expertise to develop cutting-edge solutions
for scaling up the assembly of innovative battery cells. This
project demonstrates our commitment to technological advancement
and aligns with the UK government's vision for a cleaner and more
sustainable world''.
Graeme Purdy, Ilika CEO,
stated:
"Our collaboration with Mpac in
SiSTEM will see the development of a scaled SSB assembly line which
will be capable of delivering Ilika's A-sample automotive pouch
cells for testing in 2025. This is an important step in Ilika's
roadmap, enabling us to engage closer with OEMs as we start to
deliver SSB cells into their test programmes. We are delighted to
welcome Agratas to the SiSTEM project. With their plans to build a
UK gigafactory, Agratas will bring significant expertise to the
programme and we look forward to a long and fruitful
relationship"
Valentina Gentili, Vice-President Global
R&D at Agratas, said,
"We at Agratas are excited to be
joining the ATF funded SiSTEM project. It will accelerate our
learning on the production of solid-state batteries and enhance our
relationships with key organisations in the UK battery industry.
The project is well aligned to our mission of pioneering power for
future generations, and we believe that solid state is a very
promising future battery technology".
Sean Gilgunn, Managing Director of UKBIC
said:
"It's fantastic that Agratas has
joined the SiSTEM project, which will see a 1.5MWh solid-state
battery ('SSB') assembly line capable of delivering Ilika's Goliath
SSB prototype large-format pouch cells being built in this project.
The Automotive Transformation Fund ('ATF') funded project is a
partnership between Ilika, MPAC, UKBIC and Agratas, which
complements the Government's vision for Net Zero."
About UKBIC - UKBIC is the UK's
national battery manufacturing facility providing manufacturing
scale-up and skills for the battery sector.
Ian
Constance, Chief Executive Officer at Advanced Propulsion Centre UK
said, "Industrialisation of solid state batteries is one of our
current defining challenges. This partnership and project supported
by the Automotive Transformation Fund's Scale up Readiness
Validation (SURV) programme could lead to a significant step
forward in the roll out of solid state batteries and investment in
advanced manufacturing in the UK. The strength and depth of this
consortium demonstrates the leading-edge nature of the UK's
position in battery technology that is key to driving a net zero
future for the automotive sector and road
transport."
For
further information, please contact:
|
Mpac
Group plc
Adam Holland, Chief
Executive
Will Wilkins, Group Finance
Director
|
Tel: +44(0)24 7642 1100
|
|
Shore Capital (Nominated Adviser &
Broker)
Advisory
Patrick Castle
Iain Sexton
Broking
Henry Willcocks
|
Tel: +44(0)20 7408 4050
|
|
Liberum (Joint Broker)
Edward Mansfield
Will King
Anake Singh
Hudson Sandler
Nick Lyon
Nick Moore
|
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3100 2000
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7796 4133
|
About Mpac Group plc
Mpac designs, builds and supports
the machines that assemble and package the products that millions
of people around the world depend on. Headquartered in the UK
and have strategically located manufacturing and service locations
to provide customers with local support and a global reach.
Mpac is listed on AIM, a market of the London Stock Exchange,
under the trading symbol 'MPAC'.
About Ilika plc - https://www.ilika.com
Ilika specialises in the developing
and commercialisation of solid state batteries. The company's
mission is to rapidly develop leading-edge IP, manufacture and
license solid state batteries for markets that cannot be addressed
with conventional batteries due to their safety, charge rates,
energy density and life limits. The company achieves this by
using ceramic-based lithium-ion technology that is inherently safe
in manufacture and usage, higher thermal tolerance and easier to
recycle which differentiates our products from existing
batteries.
About Agratas
Agratas is a wholly owned subsidiary
of Tata Sons. They design, develop and manufacture high-quality,
high-performance, sustainable batteries applied to multiple use
cases in the mobility and energy sectors, to match customers'
requirements. Agratas are driven by the pursuit of green growth and
technological progress. Their key focus is to develop
next-generation battery technologies at new R&D Innovation Hubs
in India and the UK, collaborating with world-leading universities,
research institutions and strategic partners.
About UKBIC
The UKBIC facility, based
in Coventry, UK, provides the missing link between battery
technology which has proved promising at laboratory or prototype
scale and successful mass production. The UKBIC will build on the
work carried out in the completed BUS100 programme by undertaking
physical trials to produce Ilika's SSB electrodes at GWh
scale.