Ilika plans UK solid state battery production line by June 2025
Ilika in the UK is planning to have a production line for its Goliath solid state battery ready by June 2025.
The company has been working with the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) to scale up the roll-to-roll production equipment for the line, and with Mpac for the development of solid state battery cells.
This follows the successful demonstration of manufacturing in a giga-scale factory setting, using industry standard equipment. Ilika has already shipped its first batch of 2Ah P1 prototype Goliath batteries to customers and released validated safety data for its D5 development cell. The company is working on a 10Ah solid state battery cell, its D6 design, that is undergoing a rigorous testing program at the moment.
The SiSTEM project carried out physical trials to demonstrate preparation and roll-to-roll coating of the Ilika proprietary solid state materials. The ongoing trials are providing evidence that large format solid-state battery cells can be produced with the types of mixing and coating equipment widely used in existing gigafactories.
Ilika is working closely with Mpac on completing the fabrication and testing of a 1.5MWh solid-state battery assembly line capable of delivering Ilika’s Goliath prototype large-format pouch cells to automotive original equipment manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers. The solid-state battery assembly line is on track to be fully operational at Ilika’s facility by the end of H1 2025.
In parallel, Tata’s global battery subsidiary Agratas has produced a detailed gap analysis between its lithium-ion battery process and Ilika’s process with the key result that the solid-state battery application would cause minimum disruption. Agratas is building a battery gigafactory in Somerset to supply UK operations for Tata brands such as Jaguar, Range Rover and Land Rover.
Ilika is also working with BMW on cells using silicon materials from Uk supplier Nexeon.
“We are delighted with the teamwork at UKBIC, which has delivered an excellent outcome, demonstrating the large scale preparation of Goliath electrolyte and the coating of our composite electrode-electrolyte. We look forward to further collaboration on our commercialisation journey and welcome the UK government’s recent announcement of £2B of funding which will catalyse faster progress in this space,” said Graeme Purdy, CEO of Ilika.
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