The battery company Volklec, founded in 2024, wants to build batteries using licensed Chinese technology. To this end, Volklec has signed an agreement with Far East Battery (FEB). The British company wants to use the technology to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles and stationary energy storage systems.
Volklec is a startup that was launched in mid-May 2024, is based in Coventry in the West Midlands and is backed by the British investment company Frontive Group. The business objective of the new player in the battery market is, among other things, to ‘produce sustainable batteries for road, off-road and rail vehicles’, as stated at the launch in May.
Nine months later, Volklec is now publicising how the ramp-up of production will actually take place. The company is using battery technology from the Chinese company Far East Battery (FEB) under licence. On this basis, the British company intends to produce two types of lithium-ion round cells in the 21700 format: Firstly, cells with NMC chemistry for broad use in e-mobility and stationary energy storage and then also cells for “specialist applications” in the automotive, aerospace, marine and off-highway sectors.
Production will initially take place on a 100 MWh line at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), a partly government-funded battery facility in Coventry. Volklec is also aiming to build an additional 1 GWh production line by the end of 2026 and a 10 GWh factory by the end of the decade. According to Reuters, Volklec plans to produce batteries for electric scooters, e-bikes and chargers by the end of 2025 and to start producing electric car batteries in the second half of 2026.
Volklec has maintained close ties with UKBIC from the very beginning. Even when it was founded, there was talk of an ‘innovative British technology cooperation’ between the two players. Volklec stated that it wanted to work with the centre’s developers to develop cells ‘that meet the requirements of the British automotive market, in particular the diverse requirements of manufacturers of small series and niche vehicles’.
Volklec founder Imran Khatri emphasises that he is initially targeting the automotive industry with the battery business, “providing security of supply to the sector.” His company then wants to “look at the broader electrification markets as well.”
UKBIC Managing Director Sean Gilgunn commented: “Our purpose-built facility is where businesses can develop their battery manufacturing processes at the scale they need to move to industrial production. This agreement marks the start of Volklec’s journey to create a battery with the potential to scale up to significant volumes in the coming years, and we are proud to support the business in the initial phase of their development.”
Technology licensor Far East Battery is a unit of Far East Smarter Energy Co, which is dedicated to the research and development, manufacturing and after-sales service of lithium cells, battery packs and stationary storage, according to the company’s website. According to its own information, FEB has a production capacity of 7 GWh for cylindrical cells and a production capacity of 1 GWh for pouch cells in China. The cells are used in batteries for electric two-wheelers, electric cars and storage systems, as well as in consumer electronics and devices such as drills. FEB is based in Yixing City in the Chinese province of Jiangsu.
According to Reuters, Volklec is explicitly taking a different path with the licence than the failed battery start-up Britishvolt or the troubled Swedish company Northvolt. Volklec is hoping for a less exorbitant capital requirement and will also utilise FEB’s supply chain against this backdrop. “Volklec’s approach is all about getting to market quickly using proven technology to give confidence to customers and investors,” Volklec managing director Phil Popham is quoted as saying by Reuters. “We know where we’re going to buy it, where we’ll produce it and what we’ll produce.”
