Dundee's former Michelin tyre factory has been chosen as the preferred site for a new battery manufacturing plant that could create over 200 jobs.
AMTE Power says it wants Dundee to be the home of its first "Megafactory" that will produce battery cells to be used in homes, industry and electric cars. The new factory, if it goes ahead, will create 215 on-site jobs and 800 more across the wider supply chain.
The company already has a base in Thurso - but the Dundee facility would be much bigger, and producing far more batteries. It has begun discussions with Scottish Enterprise to turn the idea into a reality, with a target opening date of 2025.
AMTE's factory would be a much-welcomed feather in the cap for what is now known as the Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc (MSIP) following the closure of the Michelin factory in 2020. Around 850 jobs were lost after more than half a century of tyre production in the city came to an end.
Michelin bosses said that the factory was not equipped to produce the kinds of tyres required for more modern cars. But a deal brokered between Michelin, Dundee City Council and the Scottish Government saw the facility retained as a research and training centre for net-zero technology.
Kevin Brundish, CEO of AMTE Power, said the proposal was a "quantum leap" for the company and called Dundee an ideal location for the new factory. Councillor John Alexander, leader of Dundee City Council, said: “This is an exciting proposal which has the potential to deliver hundreds of direct and supply chain jobs."
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