Battery firm Britishvolt has secured short-term funding and provided an update to stakeholders on its current position.
Staff have agreed to take a temporary pay cut while the company seeks longer-term funding for its planned gigafactory project in Blyth, Northumberland.
The gigafactory will produce enough batteries for over 300,000 electric vehicles each year, significantly supporting the UK automotive industry’s transition to a zero emissions future and increased production of EVs. The project is set to create 3,000 direct highly-skilled jobs and another 5,000 indirect jobs in the wider supply chain.
In a statement, the company said: “Given the recent speculation concerning the future of Britishvolt, we want to make our situation clear for all our stakeholders.
“We have previously spoken about the need to evolve our business strategy in response to challenging external factors and continue to explore both short- and long-term funding streams that will enable us to deliver on our plans to build a thriving localised, sustainable battery ecosystem based on next-generation cell technology.
“While the weakening economic situation is negatively impacting much business investment at present, at Britishvolt we are continuing to pursue positive ongoing discussions with potential investors. In addition, we have also received promising approaches from several more international investors in the past few days.
“The result is we have now secured the necessary near-term investment that we believe enables us to bridge over the coming weeks to a more secure funding position for the future. To further reduce our near-term costs, our dedicated employee team has also voluntarily agreed to a temporary salary reduction for the month of November.
“We want to thank our employees, suppliers & investors, for their continuing belief in Britishvolt. It is important that Britishvolt is a success not only for the close to 300 employees currently working for the company, but also for the many thousands of jobs we intend to create in the UK as we progress our plans. The “Britishvolt Effect” is also of huge strategic importance to UK plc. and the country’s standing on the global battery stage.”
Earlier this year Britishvolt announced that it had secured Government funding to help build the gigaplant.
