Britishvolt is holding emergency funding talks amid fears its plan for a £3.8bn gigaplant in Northumberland could collapse.
The electric battery startup has been driving plans to create a site capable of producing more than 300,000 lithium-ion batteries a year at Blyth, also fuelling the UK’s charge towards decarbonisation while creating around 3,000 direct and 5,000 indirect jobs when it reaches full production capacity. The three-year-old firm’s plans are now said to have hit a stumbling block, as potential investors are reported to have pulled out amid the current global market turmoil, triggering emergency talks with a number of parties.
Britishvolt has admitted its plans have been “refocused and sharpened given the negative global economic situation” and that it is working on “several potential scenarios that offer the stability needed to enable us to carry on building” the plant in Northumberland. The Financial Times has reported that Tata Motors is among firms involved in the talks, which could include the sale of a minority stake or a full takeover, while also claiming Britishvolt faces collapse if it can’t secure fresh funds before Christmas.
