The mining company owned by Australia’s richest man has snapped up the battery and technology arm of the Williams Formula One racing group for £164million.
Fortescue Metals is set to purchase the unit that’s based in Wantage, Oxfordshire. This will help the company reach its green targets.
The first project to be completed will be the development of a battery-powered freighttrain.
Green targets: Andrew Forrest (pictured), founder and chairman of Fortescue Metals, has snapped up the battery and technology arm of the Williams Formula One for £164m
The technology can also be used to adapt heavy-duty industrial equipment or haulage trucks.
Fortescue – which is buying the Williams division from EMK Capital and Williams Grand Prix Engineering – is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Andrew Forrest, founder and chairman of Fortescue with a £13billion fortune, said the company had ‘scoured the world for battery technology’.
He added: ‘It’s great to win a Formula One race but we’re all in a race against climate change.’
Forrest indicated that Williams Advanced Engineering would be integrated in its clean energy unit. It will however keep Oxfordshire as its headquarters.