Recharge Industries has completed the purchase of defunct battery manufacturer Britishvolt with the intention of reviving plans for the UK’s first gigafactory.
The Australian-based battery firm plans to build the £3.8bn battery plant in Cambois near Blyth, Northumberland, creating thousands of jobs.
Britishvolt had aimed to construct the facility before the company collapsed at the start of this year.
The £3.7bn gigaplant could create more than 3,000 direct jobs once operational, alongside a further 5,000 in the wider supply chain.
Britishvolt had also planned to construct a £200m battery cell scale-up facility in the West Midlands, which was expected to create 150 jobs.
Recharge Industries is also establishing a large-scale lithium-ion battery cell production and research capability in Australia.
David A. Collard, founder and chief executive of Scale Facilitation and founder of Recharge Industries 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.
“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.
“The North East of England has a real depth of history and talent in manufacturing and engineering. I recently spent time in the area to get to know the people and the site, and I was struck by the similarities to our Recharge Industries site in Geelong, Australia.”
