Britishvolt goes into administration

UK electric vehicle battery manufacturer Britishvolt has gone into administration.

The company was being established in Northumbria to meet the growing demand for batteries as EVs become more commonplace on UK roads.

It’s proposed £3.8bn factory in Blyth was part of a long-term vision to boost UK manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries and create around 3,000 skilled jobs.

However, the government-backed organisation failed to meet development deadlines, funding dried up and the board decided on Monday that no viable investment options were available. Almost all of the company’s 232 staff were made redundant on Tuesday.

A Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spokesman said: “As part of our efforts to see British companies succeed in the industry, we offered significant support to Britishvolt through the Automotive Transformation Fund on the condition that key milestones – including private sector investment commitments – were met.

“We remained hopeful that Britishvolt would find a suitable investor and are disappointed to hear that this has not been possible, and therefore no ATF grant has been paid out.”

The UK currently only has one battery plant next to the Nissan factory in Sunderland, while 35 plants are planned or already under construction in the European Union.