Amte Power seeks listing to raise funds for battery cell tech development

A lithium-ion battery maker that has worked with automotive giants Jaguar Land Rover and Cosworth has announced its intention to list on the AIM market.

Thurso-based Amte Power has said it would like to raise around £7million to help finance the development and manufacture of its three advanced battery cells: Ultra High Power, Ultra Safe and Ultra Prime.

The group has also agreed to build a new manufacturing facility that can produce 2GWh of capacity per year and begin production of battery cells on a commercial scale ‘in due course.’ 

The automotive sector is among the industries for which Amte Power is developing batteries

It is building technology for three key industries; the automotive sector, for which its Ultra High Power cell is being developed, while it is designing the Ultra Prime battery cell for use in the oil and gas sector, and its Ultra Safe product for the energy storage market. 

Amte Power is one of the UK’s only five commercial battery cell producers and has the country’s second-largest cell manufacturing capacity.

Kevin Brundish and other former employees of defence contractor Qinetiq – whose science it licenses – set up the firm in 2013 and the company puts particular focus on providing technology to the makers of high-performance vehicles and equipment.  

Brundish said: ‘Early on we chose to focus on the requirements of specialist customers whose power, performance and endurance needs are, we believe, outside the scope of the international manufacturers and also to not simply be a developer but have the manufacturing capability to deliver our products.

‘The combination of which, we believe, differentiates AMTE and places us in a highly advantageous position.

‘To give an example, our Ultra High Power battery cell which is designed for a high-performance sports car, needs to generate more power, than an average automotive battery, to deliver the required acceleration.’

To date, it has received almost £15million in funding from a mixture of private equity and public grants, and about £2.5million in commercial income. 

Its announcement comes weeks after another battery vehicle business Britishvolt entered a technology partnership with German technology firm Siemens to speed up batteries’ development.

Britishvolt is hoping to build a £2.6billion ‘gigafactory’ on the old Blyth power station site that will create about 3,000 jobs and be the biggest industrial investment in the North East of England since Nissan opened its Sunderland plant in 1984.

The factory will be dedicated to turning out lithium-ion batteries for the British electric car industry, which is set to become more prominent in the coming years due to the UK government banning the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030.

The European Commission predicted in 2018 that the global market for lithium-ion batteries in electric-powered cars could hit as much as €40billion to €55billion each year by 2025 and reach over €200billion per year in the long term.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk