By UKBIC Communications Team
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August 15, 2024
The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), the national battery manufacturing facility providing manufacturing scale-up and skills for the battery sector, has appointed Richard LeCain as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Richard will report into Sean Gilgunn, UKBIC’s Managing Director, and will sit on the executive team with responsibility for technical process design, product development and R&D activities across the business. Richard has more than 20 years of experience working in the battery industry, having previously held technical and leadership positions at A123 Systems and Britishvolt, where he was Director of Cell and Process Engineering. Richard began his career in batteries at Lithium Iron Phosphate pioneer (LFP) A123 Systems in the US as a process engineer where he developed LFP cells in cylindrical and pouch formats for energy storage applications such as power tools, medical devices and automotives, eventually becoming the head of cell design for low voltage applications. As Director of Cell and Process Engineering at Britishvolt, Richard and his team worked closely with UKBIC and WMG, at the University of Warwick, to quickly develop an energy dense 21700 cell for customer evaluations. Most recently, he was Director of Cell Development at US-based silicon anode company, GDI, where he worked on integrating 100% silicon anodes into lithium-ion cells for high energy density and fast charging applications. Richard has worked in battery plants across the world transferring processes and designs from the lab into manufacturing. Sean Gilgunn said: “We’re very excited with the appointment of Richard to the role of CTO. Richard’s vast expertise and experience will be hugely beneficial to our customers and employees alike, as our customers develop and refine their battery products as they move along their challenging scaleup journeys.” Richard, who will join UKBIC on 19 August, added: “UKBIC is a world class facility and I’m delighted to be joining them at this exciting time. I’m looking forward to helping companies with getting a foot on the scale-up ladder, as customers move from research and development through to volume manufacturing. From my previous engagement with UKBIC on the customer side with Britishvolt, I saw firsthand how well UKBIC could make cells and I’m excited to be part of that team now.” UKBIC is part of the £610m Faraday Battery Challenge, which is delivering a research and innovation programme that covers "Lab to Factory" development, cutting-edge research, national scale-up infrastructure, and skills and training. -ends- Notes to editor: To arrange an interview, please email richard.robinson@ukbic.co.uk or phone +44 (0) 7503 628892 UKBIC is the UK’s national manufacturing battery development facility, providing manufacturing scale-up and skills for the battery sector. The purpose-built facility is where businesses develop their battery manufacturing processes at the scale they need to move to industrial production and where those working in the industry can develop new skills by working on the production line, alongside UKBIC’s specialist teams. Created with an initial investment of £130m, an additional £74m has now been committed by UK Research and Innovation to enhance the facility by installing a new pilot line to bridge the gap between UKBIC’s larger scale offering and small-scale demonstrators available elsewhere. Funding is also being used to support the construction of a new battery development laboratory, a clean and dry zone, and cell cyclers. Opened in July 2021, the Coventry-based facility can be accessed by organisations with existing or new battery technology, or companies looking at entering the industry. UKBIC doesn’t retain customer IP.  UKBIC’s construction was part-funded through the West Midlands Combined Authority and was delivered through a consortium of Coventry City Council, Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and WMG, at the University of Warwick.