UK battery firm Britishvolt near collapse as it seeks fundingon October 31, 2022 at 2:30 pm

Britishvolt could fall into administration as soon as Monday after the UK battery start-up failed to secure fresh funds.

The firm, which has been championed by the government, has been in emergency talks to secure funding, according to the Financial Times.

Britishvolt wanted to build a factory in Northumberland to mass produce batteries for electric vehicles.

The so-called gigafactory, not yet built, would create around 3,000 jobs.

A spokesperson for Britishvolt said: “”We are aware of market speculation.

“We are actively working on several potential scenarios that offer the required stability. We have no further comment at this time.”

Britishvolt was recently forced to delay the start of production at the plant in north east England for a second time. It had been scheduled to begin by the end of next year but this was pushed back to the end of 2024.

But in August, the company announced it would be delayed again until the middle of 2025.

At the time it blamed “difficult external economic headwinds including rampant inflation and rising interest rates”.

The factory had been hailed by the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a “levelling up opportunity” which would bring “thousands of new highly-skilled jobs to communities in our industrial heartlands”.

The then Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the gigafactory and the jobs it was forecast to create “is exactly what levelling up looks like”.