The company leading plans for a £3.8bn gigaplant in Northumberland is holding emergency talks to keep its plans afloat.
Britishvolt hopes to produce more than 300,000 lithium-ion batteries a year at Blyth, aiding the UK’s charge towards decarbonisation while also creating 3,000 direct and 5,000 indirect jobs when it reaches full production capacity. But those plans have stalled amid reports the company is holding talks with a number of potential investors after recent market turmoil led to potential supporters backing out.
Britishvolt has now admitted its plans have been “refocused and sharpened given the negative global economic situation” and that it is working on “several potential scenarios that offer the stability needed to enable us to carry on building” the plant in Northumberland.
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In August, following the resignation of its chief executive and co-founder Orral Nadjari, the firm’s chairman Peter Rolton told how Britishvolt was working with investors including Arbdn and Tritax to secure funding for the main construction phase of the factory. He said the end of a contract to clear the 93 hectares near the former Blyth Power Station site had triggered speculation about the project’s future, but insisted work would start again, though not before the second quarter of 2023.
Now being led by interim CEO Graham Hoare, the Financial Times has reported that Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata Motors is among firms involved in talks which could include the sale of a minority stake or a full takeover, claiming Britishvolt faces collapse if it can’t secure fresh funds before Christmas.
Britishvolt company spokesperson Ben Kilbey said: “Company policy is to not comment on market speculation. The board of directors supports the company’s latest business plan which has been refocused and sharpened given the negative global economic situation and continues to have full confidence in the senior management team.
“We are actively working on several potential scenarios that offer the stability needed to enable us to carry on building a strong and viable British battery cell R&D and manufacturing business.
“It is important that Britishvolt is a success: not only for the circa 300 employees currently working for the company, but also for the many thousands of jobs that we intend to create at our gigaplant site in Northumberland and our R&D and scale-up facilities in the West Midlands, and for the future of the UK auto industry and the country’s target to become net carbon zero by 2050. The ‘Britishvolt effect’ is of huge strategic importance to UK plc. and its standing on the global battery map.”
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