Ultimate Battery Company recruiting 500 workers at £28m new South Yorkshire factory

A hi-tech battery company has started recruiting the first of 500 jobs after launching a £28m factory in South Yorkshire.
By David Walsh
Published 17th Dec 2022, 00:02 BST
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The Ultimate Battery Company is aiming to hire 200 over the next 12 months, when it claims a further 600 could be created in the supply chain. The rest of the jobs are set to follow after it moves to full production at the end of 2023, it says.

The Manchester-based firm has developed lighter, smaller, more powerful batteries for electric vehicles. It has taken premises on Thurcroft Industrial Estate in Rotherham.

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Maurizio Cunningham Brown, founder and chief executive, said: “It is the ideal location for our first facility. It combines the benefits of local industry knowledge, good transport links and a strong workforce ethic. It is close to our research partnership with the AMRC and strongly supports the commitment from SYMCA to net zero manufacturing. It is a quantum leap for the company, he added, and will support the Government’s objectives to achieve net zero and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.”

From left: (Front) Maurizio Cunningham-Brown CEO and founder of Ultimate Battery Company, Malcolm Earp Chief Operating Officer and Chief Commercial Officer of UBC, Dr Keith Ellis, Chief Security Officer and Dr Steve Bowles, AMRC Team Leader.From left: (Front) Maurizio Cunningham-Brown CEO and founder of Ultimate Battery Company, Malcolm Earp Chief Operating Officer and Chief Commercial Officer of UBC, Dr Keith Ellis, Chief Security Officer and Dr Steve Bowles, AMRC Team Leader.
From left: (Front) Maurizio Cunningham-Brown CEO and founder of Ultimate Battery Company, Malcolm Earp Chief Operating Officer and Chief Commercial Officer of UBC, Dr Keith Ellis, Chief Security Officer and Dr Steve Bowles, AMRC Team Leader.

In March, he said they chose South Yorkshire after an offer of a £3.2m loan and £2m grant from the Mayoral Combined Authority. Also key was help from the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, part of Sheffield University. Experts there ‘tweaked’ the batteries and developed methods for mass manufacturing, he said.

Malcolm Earp, chief commercial officer, said their technology would mean a switch to electric vehicles ‘long before the 2040 target’. The South Yorkshire MCA aims to invest £170m into 137 high growth companies creating 7,000 jobs.