Batteries are the most expensive component for electric cars, and most now come from Asia. Europe is by far the largest customer for British-made cars.
British governments, with their preference for laissez-faire economies, have so far been slower in providing support to a domestic battery industry than the European Union. The € 2.9 billion fund announced by the European Commission on Tuesday will be distributed among carmakers as well as companies that supply battery materials or are in the process of setting up battery manufacturing.
“We need to make a battery,” said Des Quinn, national car industry official at Unite, Britain’s largest trade union. ‘There is no way carmakers are going to move batteries to the UK to build electric cars. They are likely to relocate production to Europe. ”
Even brands with a strong UK heritage, such as Mini, can take root. Car buyers no longer care so much about where their vehicles are built. BMW, which owns Mini, is building versions of the popular compact in China as well as in Britain. Jaguar Land Rover, owned by Tata Motors of India, is the largest carmaker in Britain but also has a new factory in Slovakia.
Most carmakers were not committed to the plans for their UK operations.
“We look forward to the continued success of our UK design, engineering and manufacturing operations, which have been serving the European market for over 30 years,” Nissan said in a statement.
BMW said it welcomed the Brexit agreement, but said in a statement: “A full evaluation of the importance of the treaty can only be done after the details have been published.”
For fans of British cars, it’s hard to be optimistic.
“We’re sitting with just the old part of the industry, internal combustion engines,” says Peter Wells, a professor of business at Cardiff University in Wales. “It will eventually wither.”