Recharge Industries buys Britishvolt

Australia’s Recharge Industries has been successful in its bid for ownership of failed UK Gigafactory start-up Britishvolt.

Recharge Industries is a portfolio company of Scale Facilitation and a provider of battery technology based in Geelong, Australia. The firm is currently developing Australia’s first large-scale lithium-ion cell production facility to provide recyclable batteries. It is also investing in research and development of next-generation solutions to real-world and emerging energy storage solutions.

Under plans presented by Recharge Industries, the Britishvolt project will make the UK’s first gigafactory a reality.

Britishvolt had planned to build a £3.8bn gigafactory to make electric car batteries at Cambois near Blyth, Northumberland. The facility was intended to supply EV batteries to the UK car industry. However, the company was put into administration after running out of money.

David A Collard, founder and chief executive of Scale Facilitation, said: “We are thrilled to have been successful in our bid for ownership of Britishvolt; our plans are the right ones for the local community and the UK economy.

“Our proposal combined our financial, commercial, technology and manufacturing capabilities, with a highly credible plan to put boots and equipment on the ground quickly.

“Our technology, including an exclusive licence for the intellectual property and battery technology, has been developed and validated over the last decade through C4V in the US and will be the backbone of both gigafactories in Geelong and Cambois.

“Backed by our global supply chain, strategic delivery partners and a number of significant customer agreements in place, we’re confident of making the Cambois Gigafactory a success and growing it into an advanced green energy project. We can’t wait to get started and want to start as soon as possible.”

Evans-Gadgil from Coventry City Council, committed to delivering more advice about delivering charging infrastructure from a local authority’s perspectives.

“The TTF’s EV Working Group remains a key medium to deliver updates and outputs to local authorities around education needed in this space,” she explained.

“The next step for the group will be to provide the further guidance on procurement, site selection, consultation and delivery that we have committed to this year.”

The meeting, held at Novuna Vehicle Solutions, was addressed by Dr Andrew Larkham from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV).

Among other things, he explained that the issue of charging is often exaggerated by drivers who tend to overestimate the mileage they drive, meaning they could use a vehicle on the market now without any range anxiety.

Attendees also received advice on cyber security, site selection and strategy, while Novuna’s head of decarbonisation Jonny Berry busted a number of myths in a Q&A session which was facilitated by Alec Peachey, content director of the Local Council Roads Innovation Group and publisher of transportandenergy.com.

The Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Working Group will deliver a further update during the TTF Conference in Leeds from 25-27 April.