As it prepares for mass production, electric vehicle (EV) battery startup Britishvolt announced on Monday that it has inked an agreement with a UK government-backed research lab to produce batteries with higher nickel content and more energy-dense materials.

As electric vehicles become more common, nickel demand is likely to rise over the next decade. Nickel improves energy storage in a battery’s cathode, extending the range of an electric vehicle.

With massive investments in research into more energy-dense batteries, the auto industry is striving to increase EV range.

Britishvolt has signed a multi-million pound two-year deal with the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) to design and build its next generation of sample battery cells for scale manufacturing and commercialization.

The UKBIC is a government-funded organization dedicated to assisting the British automotive sector in the development of novel battery technologies.

Britishvolt announced on Friday that it has received government approval for its planned battery plant in northern England, allowing it to raise 1.7 billion pounds ($2.31 billion) in private capital.

The startup’s 30 GWh project in Blyth is expected to start producing in 2023. It will be developed in three stages, with the capacity to produce battery packs for over 300,000 vehicles yearly when it achieves full production in 2027.