Carmaking recast: West Midlands finds new role in electric vehicle industry

Some firms reinvent themselves in the battery era, but others struggle as work moves abroad

Corners of the Alucast factory in the Black Country would be familiar to metalworkers several centuries ago. Workers pour molten aluminium at 720C into steel moulds. The cooling metal is then quickly pressed into shape before being sanded down into parts for gas-guzzling British sports cars.

Yet for all its traditional West Midlands manufacturing roots, Alucast is finding a role for itself in a fast-growing new industry: electric cars.