UK’s Britishvolt secures funding for EV battery gigaplant

Plant designed to produce 300,000 lithium-ion EV battery packs a year, with startup schedule for late 2023 or early 2024

UK battery technology company Britishvolt has secured £1.7bn ($2.3bn) of private funding plus UK government support for a planned £3.7bn electric vehicle (EV) battery gigaplant in Blyth, Northumberland. The private investment is from logistics and real estate investor Tritax and asset management company Abrdn. The government has made an “in principle offer” of funding though its Automotive Transformation Fund. The new plant, to be developed on the site of a coal yard used by the former Blyth power station in Cambois, is scheduled to start up in the fourth quarter of 2023 or early 2024. The plant will build enough lithium-ion cells each year for over 300,000 EV battery packs. “Britishvolt wil