After a whirlwind of fresh speculation about the future of breakthrough battery manufacturer Britishvolt, the company has pledged to stick to its vision of creating thousands of jobs in Northumberland.
It has been claimed that the company is holding talks with a number of potential investors after market turmoil led to potential supporters getting nervous and reining in their plans.
But company spokesman Ben Kilbey said: “Company policy is to not comment on market speculation. The Board of Directors supports the company's latest business plan which has been refocused and sharpened given the negative global economic situation and continues to have full confidence in the senior management team.
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“We are actively working on several potential scenarios that offer the stability needed to enable us to carry on building a strong and viable British battery cell R&D and manufacturing business.
"It is important that Britishvolt is a success: not only for around 300 employees currently working for the company, but also for the many thousands of jobs that we intend to create at our Gigaplant site in Northumberland and our R&D and scale-up facilities in the West Midlands, and for the future of the UK auto industry and the country’s target to become net carbon zero by 2050.
"The ‘Britishvolt Effect’ is of huge strategic importance to UK plc. and its standing on the global battery map.”
The £3.8bn project on a 93-hectare site at the former Blyth Power Station in Cambois is a major boost for the whole region, and as well as 3,000 direct highly-skilled jobs, another 5,000 will be created in the associated supply chains.
Government funding believed to be around £100million was followed by a long-term partnership with Trixtax and abrdn that will deliver £1.7bn in private funding to help propel the UK’s energy transition on the road to net zero.
Then a partnership was announced with Aston Martin but now the exit of the co-founder, delayed deadlines and nervous investors is casting a shadow over the early headlines.
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