Description
Lithium-ion batteries are critical to achieving Net Zero and domestic energy security due to their use in electric vehicles and energy storage for decarbonised grids. Western economies are racing to reduce their reliance on China by developing domestic battery manufacturing. However, the UK lags significantly behind, producing far less than its European counterparts and only a fraction of domestic demand. This shortfall threatens the UK’s emissions targets and energy security (The Faraday Institution 2024) and is recognised as a major policy failure (UK Government 2023). This article asks: why did the UK, after establishing Europe’s first battery ‘gigafactory’ in 2010 and developing a world class battery technology ecosystem, fail to capitalise on its ‘first mover advantage’ in the sector? It draws upon ongoing research, including interviews with leading UK battery sector figures. Through its analysis, it shows how conventional Comparative Political Economy (CPE) analyses of national capitalisms are insufficiently attuned to the micro- (e.g. incentives, regulations) and macro-level forces (e.g. energy markets, global supply chains) central to understanding the UK’s shift from ‘first mover’ to ‘laggard’ in the European battery sector. In doing so, the article provides insight into the nature of the green industrial policies in liberal market economies such as the UK, once characterised by an almost unshakeable faith in market-based global supply chains but now challenged by economic fragmentation, insecurity and the rise of ‘state capitalism’.
