United Kingdom (UK) Electric Vehicle (EV) Battery Market Overview, 2027

Electric vehicles have energy storage systems, which are also known as electric vehicle batteries, or EVBs. There are various battery types which depend on the types of vehicles, such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) or all-electric vehicles (AEVs). With recent advancements in battery technologies for EVs, the battery technology employed currently is designed for extended life, such as 8 years of battery life or 1,00,000 miles. The lifetime of some batteries can last for 12 to 15 years in moderate climatic conditions, and it decreases to eight to twelve years in extreme climatic conditions. There are different types of batteries that are used in electric vehicles, such as lithium-ion batteries, lead acid batteries, and many more. According to the requirements of the functionality, these batteries are used for different applications in EVs. The growth of the EV battery market in the UK can be attributed to the rapid growth of electric vehicles in recent years, due to which the UK ranks sixth among the top ten countries in the world with the most EVs per capita. There were 6.7 electric vehicles per 1,000 residents in the UK in 2020, and this number is expected to increase tremendously in the upcoming years. The UK ranked thirteen among the countries of the world with a share of 10.7% in plug-in electric vehicles in new passenger car sales in 2020. According to the report titled "UK Electric Vehicle Battery Market Overview, 2027", published by Bonafide research, the UK EV battery market is expected to grow with an average CAGR of over 18% during the expected period. The market segment for EV battery types is divided on the basis of types of battery, propulsion type, and vehicle types. Lithium-ion batteries account for the majority share of the market divided by types. This is due to these batteries' having a lot of energy for their weight, which is vital for electric vehicles. Moreover, they are environment-friendly and can easily be recycled with higher costs, but due to recent developments, efforts are being made to decrease the cost, which encourages their wide adoptability in EVs. UK-based clean technology company Aceleron uses new technologies to create the world’s most sustainable lithium-ion battery packs.

Many of the Li-ion batteries are not made keeping in mind the next stage of their life, which leads to a lot of challenges today with the reuse of batteries. Creating Li-ion batteries will help to disassemble them after their complete discharge, which will encourage their reuse and support a circular supply chain for the EV battery industry. This can also lead to advancements in creating additional storage capacity as EVBs can be used as a storage medium for storing electricity at EV charging points. Lead acid batteries and other types, including solid state batteries, nickel metal hydrides, and sodium ion batteries, which are used in EVs, such as NiMH batteries, due to their properties like reasonable specific energy and specific power capabilities, much longer life cycle than lead-acid batteries, safety and abuse tolerance, lead to their wide use in HEVs. Solid-state batteries are considered the most likely technology for significant improvements in range and fewer charging times for EVs. Seven institutions, including FTSE 100 chemicals company Johnson Matthey, the battery startup Britishvolt, which is backed by Glencore, and Oxford University, have signed a MOU to work together on this technology. This is driving the growth of other segments of battery types for EV batteries in the market. The market division based on propulsion types includes battery electric vehicles (BEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). BEVs are expected to have a higher market share in comparison to other vehicle types by propulsion. BEVs are powered by batteries which supply energy to the electric motor for its functioning. They can be charged from an external power supply and, as they have no tail-pipe, there are no emissions, which supports the UK government’s policy of no new petrol and diesel cars to be sold in the UK after 2030 and a ban on hybrid sales after 2035. This leads to its higher adoption among the population. According to RAC estimates, there are around 456,000 zero-emission battery electric vehicles on the UK's roads—with in the region of 77,000 registered in 2022 alone—along with over 348,000 plug-in hybrids. The market division based on vehicle types includes commercial and passenger vehicle types. Up to 2019, the UK was the second largest in stock of light-duty plug-in vehicles, which shows the wide acceptance of passenger cars by the population of the UK. Moreover, to reduce the carbon footprints, as public transport constitutes a major share of harmful emissions of carbon, nitrogen oxide and other hydrocarbon pollutants, the commercial vehicle segment is growing at a good rate due to stringent emissions regulations imposed by the government and extensive efforts to promote EVs. At the moment, all Category 1 vehicles are full EVs. However, a PHEV with CO2 emissions lower than 50g/km and capable of travelling for 70 miles on electric power could technically qualify for the PiCG, an incentive being provided by the government. Low emission vehicles are eligible for plug-in grants according to their different specified functionality, like for cars. According to recent amendments, the maximum grant which can be availed is £1,500 and this amount changes according to vehicle types like small vans, large vans, taxis, trucks, mopeds, motor-cycles, and wheel-chair accessible vehicles. Due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the whole world suffered in various areas, especially the automotive industry, due to rigorous lockdowns all over the world. This restricted any kind of movement among the countries of the world as well as internally among the states in the country. But the EV industry experienced the best growth in the European region despite the COVID pandemic, which led to enormous growth in the EV battery market. The EV battery market continued to progress until 2021 and after that due to the aftermath of COVID-19, which led to disruptions in the supply chain as the European market hugely relied on raw material imports for the battery manufacturing, which led to a decline in market size. To overcome this, the government is ready to make huge investments, like recently it invested 100 million euros through the automotive transmission fund alongside a 1.7 billion euro investment by asset management company Abrdn and its majority-owned property investment arm, Tritax, for the establishment of Britishvolt’s giga factory in the UK.

Make this report your own

Have queries/questions regarding a report?

Take advantage of intelligence tailored to your business objective

Ask an Expert

Manmayi Raval

Research Consultant

Considered in this report. • Geography: UK • Historical year: 2016 • Base year: 2021 • Estimated year:2022 • Forecast year: 2027 Aspects covered in this report • UK electric vehicle battery market with its value and forecast along with its segments • Various drivers and challenges • On-going trends and developments • Five force models. • Top-profiled companies • Strategic recommendation By Battery type in the report • Lithium-ion battery • Lead-acid battery • Others (Solid-state battery, Sodium-ion battery, Nickel metal hydride battery)

Don’t pay for what you don’t need. Save 30%

Customise your report by selecting specific countries or regions

Specify Scope Now

By Propulsion Type in the Report • Battery Electric Vehicle (BEVs) • Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) • Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) By the vehicle type in the report. • Passenger Vehicle type • Commercial Vehicle type The approach of the report: This report consists of a combined approach of primary as well as secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and list out the companies that are present in it. The secondary research consists of third-party sources such as press releases and annual reports of companies, analyzing government-generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources, primary research was conducted by conducting telephonic interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducting trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. After this, we have started making primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting consumers into regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us, we can start verifying the details obtained from secondary sources. Intended audience This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations & organizations related to electric vehicle battery industry, government bodies and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing & presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.