Britishvolt has reaffirmed that it is “continuing to actively work on several potential scenarios” in order to provide the longer-term sustainability needed to enable the company to build a strong and viable British battery cell R&D and manufacturing business.
Earlier this month the company secured short-term funding to allow it time to reach a more secure funding position for the future.
Staff agreed to take a temporary pay cut while the company seeks longer-term funding for its planned gigafactory project in Blyth, Northumberland.
The gigafactory will produce enough batteries for over 300,000 electric vehicles each year, significantly supporting the UK automotive industry’s transition to a zero emissions future and increased production of EVs. The project is set to create 3,000 direct highly-skilled jobs and another 5,000 indirect jobs in the wider supply chain.
Britishvolt has also moved to deny a report in the national media which stated that British taxpayers “have already poured lots of public money into the ill-fated Britishvolt.”
In a statement the company said: “Britishvolt wants to make it clear that, while the UK Government announced in January 2022 its support for the business which was then further confirmed in July 2022, the company has not yet drawn down any of the grant funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre’s Automotive Transformation Fund [ATF]. To repeat, no British public money has been accessed by Britishvolt to date, via the ATF, as can be verified by the Advanced Propulsion Centre.
Earlier this year Britishvolt announced that it had secured Government funding to help build the gigaplant.
Image courtesy of Britishvolt.
