Director appointed for UK’s Faraday Battery Challenge

Tony Harper is the new director of the Faraday Battery Challenge

Jaguar Land Rover’s Director of Engineering Research, Tony Harper, has been appointed as Director for the UK government-backed Faraday Battery Challenge.

Harper will join UK Research and Innovation in April 2018 to lead the Faraday Battery Challenge. This is government’s £246m investment to develop “safe, cost-effective, durable, lighter weight, higher performing and recyclable batteries” for next-generation vehicles in the UK.

In a statement issued by Innovate UK yesterday (6 February), Harper said: “This is a unique opportunity to maximise the advantage for the UK from the shift to the electrification of transport by creating a high-tech, high-value, high-skill industry in battery technology.”

Business Minister Richard Harrington added: “With 200,000 electric vehicles set to be on UK roads by the end of 2018, investment in car batteries is a massive opportunity for Britain and one that, through our flagship Industrial Strategy and the Automotive Sector Deal, the government is committed to seizing.”