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Britishvolt bailout is a ‘missed opportunity’: Aussie buyers focus on energy storage, not the auto industry
Britishvolt’s bailout has been described as a ‘missed opportunity’ after it emerged that the Australian company that bought it intended to initially focus on energy storage rather than the car industry.
Administrators at EY said they had completed the sale of most of the failed battery business to Recharge Industries.
The deal was backed by Lord Botham, the former England cricket captain, who is now a trade envoy between the UK and Australia.
The deal was backed by Lord Botham, the former England cricket captain (pictured in his playing time), who is now a trade envoy between the UK and Australia
Recharge is buying the battery technology from Britishvolt and has until the end of March to complete the purchase of its site near Blyth, Northumberland.
But previous hopes that the site will become a £3.8 billion ‘gigafactory’ making 300,000 batteries a year for UK-made electric cars appear to be thwarted.
Instead, the new owners will focus on electric storage batteries and hope those products will be available by the end of 2025.
Next, it plans to produce batteries for high-performance sports cars. Professor David Bailey, a car industry expert at Birmingham University business school, said it was a ‘disappointment’.
“If they end up buying the site and storing energy, it’s a bit of a lost opportunity because it’s ideal for a gigafactory,” he said.
A gigafactory is a factory that produces batteries for electric vehicles on a large scale. So far the UK has only one: the Envision site in Sunderland, with a capacity of 2 GWh (gigawatt hours), rising to 11 GWh by 2025.
But according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), Britain would need to reach 60 GWh by 2030 to support production of 1 million vehicles a year as petrol and diesel cars are phased out.
Britishvolt was seen as pivotal in developing those ambitions, but suffered a setback when it fell into administration last month, laying off nearly all of its 300 employees.
It was valued at £774 million in a fundraiser last February, but reports after it went into administration suggested it was on sale for around £30 million.
EY named Recharge as a preferred bidder for Britishvolt earlier this month, saying it had considered “multiple approaches from interested parties” and received “numerous offers”.
The value of the deal – which is expected to close within seven days – was not disclosed when it was confirmed yesterday.
The sale of the business will help support the development of technology and infrastructure needed for the energy transition in the UK.
Recharge Founder David Collard said: ‘We are pleased to have been successful in our bid for ownership of Britishvolt. Our plans are the right ones for the local community and the British economy.”
He said Britishvolt was ‘shovel ready’ but it would take six to 12 months for work to begin.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said the deal shows that ‘the UK’s promise as a battery manufacturing location remains unchanged’.
He added: ‘We need to ensure that Britain attracts more capacity and capacity to its automotive sector as the industry has the potential to be a crucial driver in the UK’s transition to a zero-emissions growth economy. ‘