The U.K. has set a fast pace in the electric vehicle race with its 2030 ban on sales of new fossil fuel-powered cars, and has offered £1 billion ($1.4 billion) to jump start its battery industry and associated supply chain.
But the cash and the headline-grabbing deadline — which is sooner than many other nations by several years — still leaves it trailing the European Union's drive to create a supply chain and far behind China, the electric vehicle battery leader.
The stakes are high for Brexit Britain. To keep selling into the 27-nation EU without tariffs, the U.K.'s car industry, which employs 170,000 people, will need to ensure electric vehicles and the batteries that power them meet stringent rules of origin — with up to 70% of input in value terms coming from the U.K. or inside the EU.