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Britishvolt
Britishvolt was a UK startup manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries. The company initially planned production of batteries for the automotive industry. It began construction of a gigafactory at Blyth in northeast England in 2021, but work was halted in August 2022 due to funding difficulties.
The company went into administration on 17 January 2023. In February 2023, it was reportedly bought out of administration by an Australian startup. A subsidiary of US-based Scale Facilitation, Recharge Industries said it planned to resume construction in late 2023. However, amid continued financial difficulties, a deal to fund the business was not finalised, and in April 2024, the Blyth site was sold for redevelopment as a data centre campus. Britishvolt went into liquidation in November 2024.
Britishvolt was incorporated as Power by Britishvolt Ltd in December 2019. Its cofounders included Swedish former investment banker Orral Nadjari and Swedish automotive entrepreneur Lars Carlstrom. Carlstrom quit as Britishvolt's chairman in December 2020 after details of a tax fraud conviction in Sweden were revealed (though Carlstrom later said the fraud conviction was dredged up after he disagreed with Britishvolt's rapid hiring and its decision to develop its own in-house battery tech). US billionaire William Harrison was a shareholder through Cathexis Holdings; Harrison also owned ISG, the contractor appointed to lead construction of Britishvolt's factory.
Britishvolt rented a serviced office in London's Mayfair district and Newfield House, a mansion east of the Northumberland town of Blyth, used as office space. The company also had a team in Canada led by former Quebec premier Philippe Couillard and Anna Vujovic.
It later emerged that management consultancy EY was heavily involved in Britishvolt's formation, with the startup sometimes spending more money paying consultants, including EY, than it paid its own staff. Insiders said EY had been instrumental in helping Britishvolt become a functioning enterprise ("They wrote the whole business plan from scratch, they did everything"), and three senior Britishvolt staff, including its chief financial officer, were all hired from EY in 2021.
Sports car maker Lotus was among four automotive manufacturers that signed memorandums of understanding to be supplied by Britishvolt. In March 2022 Aston Martin also committed to working with Britishvolt to develop energy cells, and former Britishvolt CEO Nadjari had also intended to target Elon Musk's Tesla. In June 2022, Britishvolt signed a deal with South Korea-based POSCO Chemical to secure the supply of cathode and anode materials for its supply chain. In September 2022, Britishvolt batteries passed safety tests, allowing development cells to be shipped to seven customers for further testing.
Initially the company was reported to be planning a battery factory near Bridgend in South Wales or near Coventry, but, in December 2020, Blyth was confirmed as the location for the Britishvolt manufacturing plant. Britishvolt secured the partnership of Siemens for this project. In July 2021 plans for a £2.6bn gigafactory employing 3,000 people were approved, with the new Britishvolt plant to be located on former coalyards adjacent to the former power station in Cambois, near Blyth. Britishvolt appointed ISG as its construction partner; ISG began work on clearing the site and creating foundations for the factory, taking its first delivery of aggregate from a Cumbria quarry in July 2021 and starting construction on 6 September 2021. West Yorkshire-based engineering and services business NG Bailey was also engaged on the Blyth project and on a related development at Hams Hall in the West Midlands.
Anglo-Swiss mining giant Glencore invested in Britishvolt in August 2021, and was part of a £50M funding round with NG Bailey and Norway's Carbon Transition ASA. In late 2021 Britishvolt was reported to be considering a stock market listing in either London or New York to help raise the £2 billion needed for the factory's construction. In January 2022 the UK government, through its Automotive Transformation Fund, committed to investing £100M in the Britishvolt project, alongside asset management company Abrdn and its property investment arm Tritax, supporting development of what was planned to be Britain's fourth-largest building. Glencore invested a further £40M in February 2022, topping up its previous funding of Britishvolt that then valued the company at more than $1 billion (£740M). In May 2022, Britishvolt was set to acquire a German lithium-ion battery manufacturer, Monbat Holding GmbH, for €36M from Bulgaria's Monbat, with the latter taking shares in Britishvolt. In June 2022, Britishvolt announced an investment by Sunbelt Rentals, the main operating subsidiary of the Ashtead Group.
Britishvolt
Britishvolt was a UK startup manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries. The company initially planned production of batteries for the automotive industry. It began construction of a gigafactory at Blyth in northeast England in 2021, but work was halted in August 2022 due to funding difficulties.
The company went into administration on 17 January 2023. In February 2023, it was reportedly bought out of administration by an Australian startup. A subsidiary of US-based Scale Facilitation, Recharge Industries said it planned to resume construction in late 2023. However, amid continued financial difficulties, a deal to fund the business was not finalised, and in April 2024, the Blyth site was sold for redevelopment as a data centre campus. Britishvolt went into liquidation in November 2024.
Britishvolt was incorporated as Power by Britishvolt Ltd in December 2019. Its cofounders included Swedish former investment banker Orral Nadjari and Swedish automotive entrepreneur Lars Carlstrom. Carlstrom quit as Britishvolt's chairman in December 2020 after details of a tax fraud conviction in Sweden were revealed (though Carlstrom later said the fraud conviction was dredged up after he disagreed with Britishvolt's rapid hiring and its decision to develop its own in-house battery tech). US billionaire William Harrison was a shareholder through Cathexis Holdings; Harrison also owned ISG, the contractor appointed to lead construction of Britishvolt's factory.
Britishvolt rented a serviced office in London's Mayfair district and Newfield House, a mansion east of the Northumberland town of Blyth, used as office space. The company also had a team in Canada led by former Quebec premier Philippe Couillard and Anna Vujovic.
It later emerged that management consultancy EY was heavily involved in Britishvolt's formation, with the startup sometimes spending more money paying consultants, including EY, than it paid its own staff. Insiders said EY had been instrumental in helping Britishvolt become a functioning enterprise ("They wrote the whole business plan from scratch, they did everything"), and three senior Britishvolt staff, including its chief financial officer, were all hired from EY in 2021.
Sports car maker Lotus was among four automotive manufacturers that signed memorandums of understanding to be supplied by Britishvolt. In March 2022 Aston Martin also committed to working with Britishvolt to develop energy cells, and former Britishvolt CEO Nadjari had also intended to target Elon Musk's Tesla. In June 2022, Britishvolt signed a deal with South Korea-based POSCO Chemical to secure the supply of cathode and anode materials for its supply chain. In September 2022, Britishvolt batteries passed safety tests, allowing development cells to be shipped to seven customers for further testing.
Initially the company was reported to be planning a battery factory near Bridgend in South Wales or near Coventry, but, in December 2020, Blyth was confirmed as the location for the Britishvolt manufacturing plant. Britishvolt secured the partnership of Siemens for this project. In July 2021 plans for a £2.6bn gigafactory employing 3,000 people were approved, with the new Britishvolt plant to be located on former coalyards adjacent to the former power station in Cambois, near Blyth. Britishvolt appointed ISG as its construction partner; ISG began work on clearing the site and creating foundations for the factory, taking its first delivery of aggregate from a Cumbria quarry in July 2021 and starting construction on 6 September 2021. West Yorkshire-based engineering and services business NG Bailey was also engaged on the Blyth project and on a related development at Hams Hall in the West Midlands.
Anglo-Swiss mining giant Glencore invested in Britishvolt in August 2021, and was part of a £50M funding round with NG Bailey and Norway's Carbon Transition ASA. In late 2021 Britishvolt was reported to be considering a stock market listing in either London or New York to help raise the £2 billion needed for the factory's construction. In January 2022 the UK government, through its Automotive Transformation Fund, committed to investing £100M in the Britishvolt project, alongside asset management company Abrdn and its property investment arm Tritax, supporting development of what was planned to be Britain's fourth-largest building. Glencore invested a further £40M in February 2022, topping up its previous funding of Britishvolt that then valued the company at more than $1 billion (£740M). In May 2022, Britishvolt was set to acquire a German lithium-ion battery manufacturer, Monbat Holding GmbH, for €36M from Bulgaria's Monbat, with the latter taking shares in Britishvolt. In June 2022, Britishvolt announced an investment by Sunbelt Rentals, the main operating subsidiary of the Ashtead Group.