Britishvolt receives £1.7 billion in funding

By Julian Buckley24 January 2022

Britishvolt Render of future Britishvolt plant in Northumberland

The UK government has announced that it has put forward an offer in principal to Britishvolt (BV) for £1.7 billion ($2.3 billion) in private funding. The funds will be supported by the Automotive Transformation Fund and delivered by the Advanced Propulsion Centre.

The money will be used to support construction of BV’s full-scale gigaplant factory which will manufacture electric vehicle battery cells.

“The news is the first step in creating a commercialised battery ecosystem that perfectly aligns with the existing R&D ecosystem,” said Peter Rolton, Britishvolt executive chairman. “Britishvolt will be the anchor for attracting further sections of the supply chain, be it refining or recycling, to co-locate on the BV site.

“This not only shortens supply chains, but also allows for partners to access the abundance of renewable energy on site to truly power low carbon, sustainable battery production.”

Located in Northumberland, in NE England, on the site of the former Blyth Power Station, the gigaplant will produce enough low-carbon cells for more than 300,000 EVs each year. Currently, this amounts to 25% of UK production.

Production is estimated to be the equivalent of 48 GWh. UK auto industry lobby group the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) says that a minimum of 60 GWh will be required by 2030 to support production of up to 1 million EVs in the UK.

Tritax and abrdn will be project partners. Tritax is an investor in European logistics real estate, while abrdn manages global real estate assets.

Development of the 93-hectare site is currently being carried out by BV construction partner ISG.

This funding announcement will be followed by a series of announcements covering customer MoUs, OEM partnerships and other technology releases.

It is reported that the new plant will create up to 3000 new direct jobs, plus a further 5000 indirect positions in the wider UK supply chain.

NEWSLETTER
Delivered directly to your inbox, New Power Progress newsletter features the pick of the breaking news stories, product launches, show reports and more from KHL's world-class editorial team.



CONNECT WITH THE TEAM
Mike Brezonick VP, Power Division Tel: +1 262 754 4112 E-mail: mike.brezonick@khl.com
Alister Williams VP Sales Tel: +1 843 637 4127 E-mail: alister.williams@khl.com
Julian Buckley
Julian Buckley Editor Tel: +44 771 009 6684 E-mail: julian.buckley@khl.com
CONNECT WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
Latest News
Germany wins regulation change for post-2035 sale of e-fuel IC engines
The change will create a loophole in 2035 ban on IC-engine sales for vehicles exclusively using e-fuel
Xing Mobility, Nordic Booster partner on industrial vehicle electrification
Xing Mobility immersion-cooled battery system to electrify construction and mining vehicles by Nordic Booster
Schaeffler shows product portfolio, announces municipal vehicle electrification
Electric drives such as those shown at ConExpo (see video) will be used to electrify municipal utility vehicles