Ilika Plc (LON:IKA) Chief Executive Officer Graeme Purdy caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss the company’s newly launched PRIMED programme, its partnerships with Jaguar Land Rover and Oxford University, and the industrialisation pathway for prototype solid-state battery cells.
Q1: Graeme, in July you announced the award of the PRIMED project. Can you just remind us of its scope and the financial benefit?
A1: This is actually a grant-supported project facilitated by the Advanced Propulsion Centre in the UK, or APC. It’s a 12-month, £3 million collaboration programme and Ilika will actually receive £1.25 million in grant funding. We’re partnering with HSMI, which is a UK-based manufacturing consultancy, and we’ll also be using the electrode production lines at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre, or UKBIC.
Q2: OK, so how does your announcement today build on that?
A2: The exciting additional news really is this injection of automotive expertise into the project, where we’ve got Paul Shearing from Oxford University advising us, and also Jaguar Land Rover, or JLR, giving their industrial expertise to steer the programme.
So, we’re really excited with the partnerships, really, that this grant funding is enabling.
Q3: What outcomes can we expect to see from this project then?
A3: Well, what we’re expecting to deliver here is that we will build and test our 50-amp-hour P2 prototype cells and actually take them through an industrialisation process to deliver what the industry refers to as A-samples, which are cells that meet a given specification and can be used as the building blocks to make the battery packs that go into EVs.
In addition, HSMI will produce a production scale model and carry out a business case review to support that industrialisation at gigafactory level.
Q4: Now in July, the government announced the £2.5 billion DRIVE35 programme. Do you see any further opportunities for Ilika through that support?
A4: Absolutely. I think it’s a great piece of industrial strategy that’s being driven by the current government and we see competitions being announced at regular intervals at the moment. So, there are lots of opportunities to apply for funding.
Bear in mind, these are competitions and so actually, investors can take comfort when Ilika is awarded these projects and this grant funding, because the applications have been reviewed by a panel of industry experts. Therefore, when we initiate these programmes, we are doing it with the expert guidance of the industry.
