British electric vehicle battery startup Britishvolt will spend more than £200 million ($253 million) to build a battery pilot plant near Birmingham. Meanwhile, Britishvolt said it was about to announce another major investor in its UK EV battery factory.
On May 31, Britishvolt said the pilot plant, which will be built at Prologis' Heimshall Manufacturing Logistics Park, will start producing batteries by the end of next year, employ 150 people, and have a capacity of 1.2GWh. The plant, which will convert new battery formats and chemistries into pre-production batteries, will support the smooth start-up of the company's £2.6 billion plant in Northumberland in 2024.
Britishvolt is one of a handful of start-ups to announce plans to build a large battery factory in the UK. While the company has signed framework agreements with British carmakers including Aston Martin and Lotus Cars, it has yet to lock in orders for its 38GWh plant near Bryce.
Britishvolt said in an email that it plans to fund the pilot plant from existing funding as well as from future funding rounds, and the company will announce a second "FTSE100" investor in the coming weeks.
In February, Britishvolt launched a Series C funding round, with mining giant Glencore providing it with an initial £40 million (about $53 million) investment. Britishvolt and Glencore signed a long-term cobalt supply agreement last year, and the two companies will also jointly build a new battery recycling plant in the UK, a move that will help reuse expensive key raw materials such as cobalt and lithium.
