Britain’s Tesla hopes for big things from ‘microfactories’

Robotic arms poised for work in Arrival’s microfactory in Bicester, Oxfordshire. The low-cost, flexible plants can be set up in less than a year. Photograph: David Levene/The Observer

The last year has been tricky for electric vehicle startups. After a burst of investment mania in which companies raised billions on the mere promise of battery propulsion, valuations have come back down to earth.

One of the loudest thuds has come from Arrival, the closest to what could be called a British electric vehicle champion. Its market value on the Nasdaq has fallen from $15bn (£11.6bn) in March 2021, when it first completed a merger with a listed cash shell, to about $1.75bn.