12:27 pm, October 31, 2022
Beleaguered battery start-up Britishvolt is understood to be entering into administration after failing to get the extra £200m it needed.
It had been trying to establish a £3.8bn gigafactory in Cambois, Northumberland, near Blyth, with the first part of the work due to end in 2023 and completion of the factory set for 2027.
However, it faced a number of challenges, including emergency talks to raise the extra millions or sell the company and its founder quitting in the wake of leaked documents that said the battery cell firm was on ‘life support’.
Britishvolt had been promised £100m by the government if building work hit a certain milestone, but it wasn’t reached so it didn’t get the money, and it’s believed it only has one month’s money left from its dwindling pile.
Its strategy of establishing a factory ahead of confirmed orders from a vehicle manufacturer, rather than the established practice of the other way round, had raised the eyebrows of analysts and automotive industry leaders.
Now, today’s Financial Times reports that according to three people in the know, Britishvolt is preparing to enter into administration as soon as today.
The gigafactory would have create 3,000 highly skilled jobs directly and another 5,000 indirect jobs in the wider supply chain, according to Britishvolt, eventually producing enough lithium-ion batteries for more than 300,000 EVs each year.
Assuming it goes into administration, it could see a more established company take over the site.
It’s believed that other firms have held discussions with landowners as the site has rail links, a deep seaport, plus clean energy, making it one of Europe’s best for producing batteries.
Britishvolt has declined to comment.
Pictured at top is an artist’s impression of how the Britishvolt gigafactory would have looked
