Britishvolt: the failed vision for a UK battery gigactory
Britishvolt: a dream, for now…
► Nascent UK battery maker collapses
► Administrator appointed, 300 jobs lost
► What next for gigafactory plans?
The start-up battery maker that deigned to bring large-scale electric car battery production to the north of Britain has collapsed into administration.
Britishvolt made the majority of its 300 staff redundant with immediate effect. It told employees that the money had run out at an all-hands meeting on Tuesday, according to those present.
The Financial Times reports that Britishvolt collapsed into administration on the morning of 17 January 2023. A board meeting earlier in the week exhausted all avenues for a possible rescue bid and a late takeover offer from shareholders had been thwarted by creditors, it said. EY was appointed as an administrator.
Britishvolt: the dream
Britishvolt had been planning to build a £3.8 billion large-scale battery manufacturing factory in Northumbria in what was touted as the biggest investment in the north east since the arrival of Nissan in 1984. The factory would have become the fourth largest building in Britain and was designed to power the transition to electric cars.
The company was founded in 2019 with the aim of becoming the UK’s homegrown battery specialist to build millions of EVs. It was a key pillar in the government’s national plan to become carbon-neutral by 2050. Currently, the only battery facility of any scale is the unit supplying Nissan’s Sunderland factory.
The project promised the creation of more than 3000 skilled jobs and a further 5000 in the wider supply chain. However no major contracts had been struck and funding for Britishvolt quickly ran out.
In 2022 the government refused to advance £30 million from a promised £100m in support packages, citing how the company had failed to meet milestones agreed as part of the funding pledge.
What next for Britishvolt?
Collapsing into administration ends the three-year vision for the business – but analysts say the project could yet be revived. The Blyth site is widely seen as a suitable location for a gigafactory, thanks to strong transport links, proximity to the new North Sea Link interconnector bringing 1.4Gwh of clean energy from Norway (vital for reducing the environmental impact of battery production).
The UK car market, already embattled by uncompetitive Brexit restrictions on trade and structural decline, looks set to miss out on the battery ‘gold rush’ if it cannot secure a viable plan for gigafactories to manufacture the energy source of the future.
Keyword: Britishvolt UK gigafactory battery plan collapses into administration