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UK based battery manufacturer, Britishvolt, filed for administration at the High Court on Tuesday 17 January, 2023. 300 Britishvolt employees were made redundant with immediate effect. The Britishvolt board decided on 16 January that there were no viable bids to keep the company afloat. Existing Britishvolt investors and prospective investors, an Indonesian based consortium, pulled out of the rescue deal. 

Britishvolt was identified by the UK government in early 2022 as a high-potential start-up that could solve the EV battery dilemma. As a result, the company was awarded a £100m grant from the Automotive Transformation Fund in July 2022. The Automotive Transformation Fund is a government initiative whereby registered businesses were able to apply for a share of £1bn for projects that help industrialise the British EV supply chain.

However, Britishvolt has been plagued with problems since the grant was awarded (see: Challenges as British industry attempts to compete with Chinese EV monopoly). Over the past couple of years, Britishvolt has been challenged by near bankruptcy, production delays, a lack of evidence for their in-house technology and tax-fraud. The administration is yet another unfortunate event in a long series of failures.

Britishvolt’s collapse means it can no longer be relied upon to satisfy the 2021 terms. These state that EV batteries must be comprised of no more than 50% internationally sourced materials to avoid significant tariffs at the point of exportation. The prospect of bankruptcy is a massive blow to the UK’s automotive and technology sector as China continues to cement its dominance.

Market Tracker will continue to monitor developments in this space.