Britishvolt, the battery technology pioneer, confirmed it will receive the £100million funding through the Government’s Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) previously promised by Westminster. The confirmation comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson first made the commitment back in January. The ATF is a funding programme worth up to £1billion created to support large-scale industrialisation and for the development of a high-value EV supply chain in the UK.
The ATF will help the UK-based start-up build its huge battery gigaplant in Blyth, Northumberland.
The plant looks set to build around 300,000 electric battery packs a year, with a total capacity of over 38 GWh by the end of the decade.
Worth £3.8billion, the plant is one of the UK’s biggest-ever industrial investments and the largest in the North-East of England since Nissan first arrived in 1984.
With the help of Government support, the plant will create around 3,000 direct and 5,000 indirect jobs, and play a major role in strengthen the UK’s
technological hub.
Isobel Sheldon OBE, Chief Strategy Officer, Britishvolt: “This is great news for our ambitious plans to construct the UK’s premier battery cell gigaplant in Northumberland.
“While the overwhelming majority of investment for the project will come from private sources, the ATF’s grant funding is very important in proving that the UK Government is confident that we will deliver on our plans, and this will help to generate further private investment.
“It’s a clear indicator of the Government’s policy towards electrification of society in the Race to Zero.
“We want to thank the UK Government for its support for this critical investment which will create over 3,000 direct and 5,000 indirect jobs, and that will also strengthen the UK’s technological base and play a key role in helping the country reach its net zero target by 2050. The Britishvolt Gigaplant will create both the jobs and the industry of the future.”
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Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “I’m delighted to confirm we have now provided Britishvolt with a final grant offer through the Automotive Transformation Fund.
“The Blyth gigafactory will turbocharge our plans to embed a globally competitive electric vehicle supply chain in the UK and it is fantastic to see how the project is progressing.
“The vast site will ensure Britain can fully capture the benefits of the booming global electric vehicle market.
“The well-paid jobs and growth it will generate for the North East of England will be transformational and are exactly the reason we are investing to make the UK the best place in the world for automotive manufacturing.”
This comes after Mr Johnson was accused of failing to support the construction of the Britishvolt factory, due to the apparent delay in delivering the £100million pledge.
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But the Government has now put those fears to rest and followed through on its promise.
Britishvolt also announced last month it would set up a £200million battery scale-up facility in the West Midlands.
This will create new cell formats to help make “higher performance, production-ready and cheaper batteries for EVs”.
The company believes this, along with the gigaplant, could revive the UK’s automobile industry.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, Paul Franklin, the Property Director at Britishvolt, previously said: “The Britishvolt effect and our business model could attract foreign car companies to set up base in the UK. We are not only making batteries for the UK market, but we will also export to Europe as well.”