Dundee chosen as location of £190m battery cell ‘megafactory’ 

Dundee has been chosen as the site of a £190 million battery “megafactory”, creating 215 on-site jobs and 800 more across the supply chain.

AMTE Power’s new factory will produce the high-performance battery cells needed to help electrify vehicles, homes, and industries for the UK’s energy transition.

It is hoped the proposed new site at Dundee’s Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc (MSIP) will ensure the business can rapidly scale up to mass manufacturing volumes.

The factory will complement AMTE Power’s existing facility in Thurso, Caithness, enabling the company to respond to “high levels of interest” in its cells from customers in the automotive and energy storage markets and get them to market quicker.

The plant will build upon the expertise the company has gained through its battery cell operations in Thurso, alongside the work the company is doing with the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in Coventry and at its technology centre in Oxford.

It could be operational and in production by 2025.

Kevin Brundish, chief executive, AMTE Power, said: “We are excited to announce Dundee as the preferred location for our first MegaFactory, a quantum leap for AMTE. The change in our execution strategy will accelerate our journey to mass manufacture of high value added, differentiated cells.

“The MegaFactory will be a platform from which AMTE can harness our advanced in-house capabilities to build further factories to meet the huge demand for battery cells – allowing us to rapidly scale up production and fast-track the path to achieving net zero.

“Battery cells are fundamental to enabling the UK’s energy transition and with this investment, we will play a key role in electrifying the vehicles, homes and industries of the future.

“The site at Dundee is the ideal location for a MegaFactory, it has the local industry knowledge and is close to our current and future customers in energy storage. We look forward to updating all stakeholders on our progress.”

Councillor John Alexander, leader of Dundee City Council, said: “This is an exciting proposal which has the potential to deliver hundreds of direct and supply chain jobs.

“All partners are committed to delivering on the vision that we had for MSIP following the closure of the tyre factory.

“AMTE’s proposed MegaFactory is a great fit with that vision and would build significantly on the successes that have already been achieved in securing tenants for the Parc.

“We want to be at the forefront of new technologies. We want to have a workforce with the right skills for future needs. And, ultimately, we want to create sustainable employment for local people.

“We look forward to working closely with local and national partners to help progress AMTE’s plans and secure this major investment in Dundee.”

The announcement is part of AMTE Power’s evolved execution strategy to rapidly scale-up production.

AMTE has the ambition to use the site at Dundee as a template for future factories.