Back in 2019, Tybro began work on an exciting project with Cheesecake Energy Ltd (CEL), a spinout from Nottingham University (one of Tybro’s longstanding customers for over 20 years) to help build the world’s greenest battery.
CEL’s breakthrough system, eTanker uses thermal energy storage and compressed air to achieve costs that are 30-40% lower than that of the cheapest batteries currently available, by repurposing long-lasting, proven industrial components from existing automotive, oil and gas equipment supply chains. The company is currently completing work on its prototype system.
Tybro, established in 1914, is an award-winning family-owned engineering company with decades of engineering expertise specialising in machining, fabrication and assembly. The CEL team identified Tybro as an ideal experienced and knowledgeable manufacturing partner who also had assembly space to rent at their premises based just off junction 28 of the M1 – allowing CEL’s eTanker system to be pre-assembled on site.
Based on the Jubilee Campus at the University of Nottingham, CEL is one of many clean energy companies emerging in the East Midlands area, which is a region with a strong industrial heritage, particularly in aerospace and automotive – two sectors facing job losses and disruption as the UK decarbonises and transitions to Net Zero.
The reuse of automotive hardware in CEL’s technology means that many of the skills in fabrication and maintenance of internal combustion engines can be translated directly into the production and upkeep of eTanker’s zero-emission power train, resulting in alternative employment for automotive workers and ensuring a Just Transition for workers in the East Midlands.
Paul Harris
Cheesecake Energy Ltd