Battery pioneer Britishvolt, the firm behind a future gigafactory that plans to build batteries for electric production cars in the UK, has had government funding approved for its Northumberland-based facility.
The British start-up announced it had secured a £100m funding from the UK government’s Automotive Transformation Fund at the beginning of this year.
The £100m of government funding is part of a huge £1.7 billion investment in the new Britisvolt gigafactory, which is aiming to start mass producing EV batteries from 2024.
Britishvolt has also received backing from property investor Trixtax and investment company Abrdn.
Construction of the firm's new Gigafactory started in September last year and hopes that when at full capacity, the factory will produce more than 300,000 EV battery cells every year by 2028.
According to research from APC, it is estimated that by 2030 the UK will need more than 90GWh of annual domestic battery production for cars and light commercial vehicles.
The firm said that once the factory is complete it will create more than 3000 high skilled jobs, and help to create around 5000 new jobs in associated supply chains.
The new Britishvolt factory will be one of a number of future gigafactories after a battery plant in Coventry was given early-stage planning permission, which could produce 60GWh of batteries.
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