Battery production in Europe
China dominates global battery production, but Europe and the UK is starting to make inroads. Britishvolt and Northvolt are two of the big names at the forefront of the shift, but can a more localised battery production ever hope to compete with the scale of China? Or is this the way to ensure car production remains in Europe? How are the OEMs reacting? We dig into this and more in the webinar, covering everything from gigafactories to sustainability.
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Isobel Sheldon OBE is Chief Strategy Officer at Britishvolt and a seasoned battery industry professional. In this role, Isobel’s familiarity with the global battery landscape will allow her to lead a ‘home-grown’ initiative and the UK achieving market leading status in the production of high-performance lithium-ion cells.
Having amassed nearly 20 years of Lithium-ion battery industry experience, she joins the company from the Government-backed UKBIC where she served as Director of Business Development. Prior to this, she held senior leadership positions within global companies, recently serving as Engineering and Technology Director at Johnson Matthey Battery Systems.
As one of the first pioneers to integrate lithium-ion batteries in road vehicles, she has developed a wealth of knowledge – from cell technology, cell manufacturing chemistries and system integration, to how the global industry and supply chain works.
Sue Slaughter is in charge of Ford’s global strategy for supply chain sustainability and cost, a key role that balances the twin concerns of car companies as they move into the electric era. One of her roles is to scrutinize the working practices of companies mining battery raw materials.
Essex-born, Slaughter joined Ford as a business trainee from school in 1987 and rose through the ranks of business planning and logistics, before making her mark in purchasing. Before moving to be chief operating officer for Ford’s joint venture gearbox maker Getrag Ford Transmissions in 2015, she was the director in charge of purchasing for global B-cars (Fiesta), moving from a similar global role for C/D cars (eg Mondeo) based in America. Slaughter is also chair of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA).
Nico Cuevas is Chairman and CEO of Urbix, Inc., a clean commercial manufacturer of coated spherical purified graphite (CSPG) geared to address both the opportunities and challenges facing the EV battery grade graphite market.
His passions are for clean technologies, and he is motivated to help usher in a new technological age for the car industry with cutting edge materials. He spent the early part of his career working Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management (EPCM) projects that totalled over $6 billion across five countries in three continents.
Nico is an engineering management graduate from the University of Arizona who has been able to utilize his passion plus real world experience to great advantage helping Urbix, Inc. rise to international prominence.
Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.
From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.
Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?, Move Electric and Pistonheads, and also writes a regular column for The Sun.
He graduated from Norton College in Sheffield in 2008 with an NCTJ journalism qualification.