Electric Vehicle Batteries

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 12 January 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:38, 12 January 2021

Llywydd, I thank Jenny Rathbone for that very important question. She's absolutely right to point out that, while coronavirus preoccupies us as an immediate public health crisis, the crisis of climate change has not gone away and needs to still be at the forefront of our thoughts. The Member will be pleased to know that, in the automotive transformation fund, which I didn't refer to in my original answer, Wales has succeeded in getting three projects funded in the first round of that fund. All three of them are in that south-east corner of Wales—in Newport and in Caldicot—where we have that cluster of expertise in semiconductors. And I think that is a recognition of the fact that we have that source of expertise that has developed here in Wales and which will be of advantage to the whole of the UK. And, indeed, there are UK manufacturers who are already contributing to the effort that Jenny Rathbone mentioned—Hydro Aluminium, for example, a company that is preparing components for the all-electric London taxi fleet. And that's just one example; there are other firms in Wales already supplying components in this very important area.

And as for trains, I was very grateful to have the chance to meet just before Christmas the senior vice-president of Hitachi, who was visiting the United Kingdom, and to explore with him the interest that Hitachi has in the work that we are doing here in Wales in the railway sector, planning for the future, making sure that we play our part in the great effort that will be needed, as Jenny Rathbone said, Llywydd, to make sure that our transport and our public transport in the future meets the challenge that climate change poses to us all.