Two of the City’s biggest companies have thrown their weight behind a groundbreaking British electric battery ‘gigafactory’ with £1.7billion of funding.
The Britishvolt project was supported by financial firm Abrdn as well as warehouse operator Tritax. After securing a large Government grant, it is anticipated to open in 2024.
Britishvolt’s facility in Blyth, Northumberland, will create 3,000 UK jobs and build the fuel cells needed for 300,000 electric car batteries when it hits peak production.
Power project: Britishvolt’s facility in Blyth, Northumberland, will create 3,000 UK jobs and build the fuel cells needed for 300,000 electric car batteries when it hits peak production
Politicians and manufacturers hope the project will make the UK less dependent on foreign imports and breathe fresh life into Britain’s car industry.
It will also play a key role in the Government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda to boost high-skilled employment in the regions.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: ‘Britishvolt’s planned gigafactory will not only enable the UK to fully capture the benefits of a booming electric vehicle market, but will bring thousands of highly skilled, well-paid jobs to the North East.’
The ban on selling new petrol or diesel vehicles comes into effect in 2030. It puts more pressure on UK companies to build their own factories.
Britishvolt’s funding comes two months after Johnson Matthey, which makes an estimated one-in-three car catalytic converters worldwide, ditched its own electric battery division. Johnson Matthey was a pioneer in the field of catalytic converters, but said that it wouldn’t be financially viable to keep it going due to too much competition from abroad.
Asia is home to the largest market for electric batteries, with China being the most prominent.
Britishvolt’s £3.8billion project has already received around half the funding it needs to take it to completion. Private investors and companies including Glencore stumped up £100m in the early stages.
The Government’s grant – from the Automotive Transformation Fund – is thought to have been worth another £100million.
Abrdn and Tritax’s investment was conditional on the company receiving this state funding.
Britishvolt stated that it will make a variety of announcements within the next weeks. These will include deals with customers in the future.
The company is keen to provide European vehicle makers as well as British car manufacturers. Nissan and its partner Envision have already unveiled plans to build an electric car battery plant in Sunderland but Britishvolt’s will be much bigger.
James Dunlop, chief executive of Tritax, said they and Abrdn ‘are proud to be working alongside Britishvolt, the Government and a world-class professional team to unlock a greener future for UK plc’.