Britishvolt announces investment, plans Northumberland battery 'gigafactory'
Battery firm receives £40 million investment from Glencore with plans to raise £200 million more
Battery cell developer Britishvolt has announced plans to raise another £200 million to support its plans to develop the UK's electric vehicle (EV) battery ecosystem, confirming it has already secured £40 million towards its fund-raising target from existing investor Glencore.
The company, which secured £100 million from the UK government in late January, said the new funds would be used to develop its flagship battery plant in Blyth, Northumberland and a pilot facility and research and development centre.
It noted that as its "key strategic partner", British-Swiss mining giant Glencore had committed to provide the cornerstone for the latest funding round with a £40 million investment. Under the terms of previously agreed deals, the miner is to supply cobalt for the lithium-ion batteries produced in Blyth, and the companies are to collaborate on a 100,000 tonnes per year capacity battery recycling plant in Kent that is expected to start processing used batteries by 2023.
Britishvolt expects its Northumberland gigafactory to be running at full capacity by 2028 and claims to have signed deals with four separate OEMs representing cumulative demand of 7GWh by 2024/2025. To date, UK sports car manufacturer Lotus is the only automaker to officially announce it will source batteries from the factory.
Britishvolt said it expected to release this year an official A-sample battery cell to its partners that would result in more commitments from customers over the coming months.
"Following on from the hugely positive news of government backing for our first full-scale gigaplant, and having secured £1.7 billion of private capital for construction of the shell and core, Britishvolt will now open its Series C fundraise," said Kasra Pezeshki, chief investment officer.
"We are increasingly excited by the number of potential growth and investment opportunities available to the business. Our interactions with the capital markets, and customers, show that demand for low-carbon, responsibly-manufactured batteries is rapidly growing day by day."
The company has also revealed it is in discussions with the Canadian government about plans to expand its operations in the country.
A version of this story first appeared on BusinessGreen