WAE will create electric car batteries at new £20m Oxford factory

Battery packs for passenger EVs will be built at WAE Technologies’ new Oxfordshire battery factory, its billionaire owner Andrew Forrest confirmed to Autocar at its opening ceremony today.

The £20 million Kidlington site, which employs 300 people, will initially be used to create, develop and test technologies for WAE’s motorsport series – Formula E, Extreme E and, from 2025, Extreme H – as well as parent company Fortescue Metals’ mining fleet.

The latter, currently in the prototype phase, includes making 1.4MW packs (pictured below) to power its biggest 240-tonne machines. Eight packs are used, which equates to “around eight to 10 hours” of site use, the company confirmed to Autocar. 

The battery site, which will be joined by another in Banbury next year, has the capacity to produce 500 prototype battery systems per year, with a total production capacity of 50MWh per annum. 

Among its goals will be to also develop packs for electric freight trains, quarry trucks and other heavy plant machinery. Hydrogen fuel cell technology is also in the frame. 

Asked when production of passenger EV batteries could start, Fortescue CEO Forrest – Australia’s richest man – couldn’t confirm a date but added: “We have to move a lot quicker than we are”, suggesting it isn’t far off.

He also said: “We need to help the world understand that there’s a much better, much more pollution-free future than going down this ignorant path of sticking with burning stuff. Burning stuff is caveman. It’s troglodyte. It is yesterday. We have to move on.” 

Speaking about the importance of the new battery facilities, WAE CEO Judith Judson said: “This technology that we're developing here, this is making a difference. It is going to change the world. It is what is going to enable us to eliminate fossil fuels from transportation, from vehicles.”