Australia based company Recharge Industries at the weekend finalised a deal with administrators to take over collapsed battery maker Britishvolt, a media report said.
The agreement revives hopes for the construction of a £3.8bn (A$6.7bn) “gigafactory” in northern England, the backbone of a plan to modernise the British automotive industry and supply the next generation of UK-built electric vehicles.
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The Guardian said the deal was finalised three weeks after Recharge, which sits under New York based investment firm Scale Facilitation, was nominated as preferred bidder, placing a huge opportunity, and burden, on a startup yet to construct a project.
Scale Facilitation’s Australian born founder and chief executive, David Collard, told the Guardian the factory and an associated supplier park, where components are manufactured, were still a focus.
“We’re working closely with one of the leading UK fund managers looking to team [up] on the development,” Collard said.
Recharge also planned to build a battery factory in Geelong, the former Ford car and engine manufacturing hub in Australia, free from Chinese and Russian materials, the newspaper said.
Before collapse, Britishvolt was planning to build a 30GWh factory in phases to take advantage of rising EV demand ahead of the UK’s 2030 ban of new petrol and diesel cars. The plant, located near Blyth in Northumberland, was expected to employ about 3,000 people at full capacity.
It had GBP100m in conditional financing from the British government but failed to meet various hurdles.
Britishvolt collapsed last month after running out of cash, with its demise partly blamed on the considerable sums it spent on battery technology and research. Part of Recharge’s pitch was focused on its existing relationship with American lithium iron battery developer C4V, removing the need to develop new technology, the Guardian said.
The deal with administrators EY means the revived Britishvolt could make batteries using Australian minerals, including lithium, US technology and British manufacturing, representing the same three countries in the Aukus trilateral security pact, the report said.
Collard told the Guardian the company would focus initially on “developing a robust UK specific business plan with global alignment”.
The paper noted Recharge had flagged interest in producing batteries for energy storage and the defence industry which differed from Britishvolt’s original aim of making traction batteries for 300,000 vehicles a year.
