Two developments helped the North East of England recover its growing reputation as one of the key regions in Britain's nascent electric vehicle industry, which recently has been overshadowed by the financial woes at Britishvolt.
After the EV battery start-up narrowly avoided administration last week thanks to a rescue fundraising, Green Lithium Refining Ltd said its planned lithium refinery at Teesport is set to cement the UK’s place as a “leader of the electric revolution”.
Green Lithium forecast the £600mln plant, which is backed by commodity trading giant Trafigura, will produce 50,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium a year, enough for over 1mln EVs, or equivalent to 6% of the UK and EU’s 2030 requirement.
“There is currently no lithium refining capability in Europe; localised lithium refining is urgently required to meet the exponential growth of European demand and protect against uncertainty from precarious international supply chains,” said Green Lithium CEO, Sean Sargent.
With the UK government having backed Green Lithium with a grant of over £600,000 through the Automotive Transformation Fund, business secretary Grant Shapps visited the site on Monday and said the development of such sites allowing the country “to move quickly to secure our supply chains of critical minerals, as we know that geopolitical threats and global events beyond our control can severely impact the supply of key components that could delay the rollout of electric vehicles in the UK.”
Green Lithium’s plant in Teesport, Middlesborough will ensure steady supply of lithium, which is vital for EV battery production, to other UK and European-based factories, including the likes of Envision in Sunderland and, if gets back on track, Britishvolt's in Blythe.
Just around the corner, the development of a lithium hydroxide processing facility by Tees Valley Lithium (TVL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Alkemy Capital Investments PLC (LSE:ALK), took another step forward as engineering firm Wave International was appointed to project-manage and lead the front-end engineering design (FEED) and other engineering, procurement and technical development.
By sourcing low-carbon feedstock and powering an electrochemical process with offshore wind and green hydrogen from BP (LON:BP), TVL aims to supply the world's lowest-carbon lithium hydroxide. It is targeting production of 96,000 tonnes per year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide, equivalent to 15% of European demand.
Alkemy said TVL and Wave "will now look to fast track the development" of the facility, with the initial focus being on FEED, the formation of an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) team for train 1 and the continued development of the electrochemical process route.
TVL has secured a 20-acre plot on Sembcorp Energy’s UK site at the Wilton International chemicals park within the Teesside freeport, just five miles as the crow flies from Teesport.