Page 40 - Feb2023

Administrators from the accounting firm EY were appointed to Britishvolt on Wednesday following the loss of 200
jobs at the start-up.

Britishvolt had planned to build the UK?s first ?gigafactory? battery production facility on the Northumberland coast
Not So Fast near Blyth, with construction due to begin in 2023.

The factory, Britishvolt said, would directly employ some 3,000 people, with 5,000 more jobs likely created in the
wider supply chain.
With the collapse of Britishvolt, UK-based battery production only represents a ?small fraction? of the industry?s
needs.

?The consequences of not correcting course will be the continuing demise of our automotive manufacturing
Not So Fast capability,? he tweeted, ?as car makers move to Europe or elsewhere, where battery capacity is being rapidly
deployed as a matter of economic priority.
Hard on the news of BritishVolts collapse came a story , also in The Times, that the charging stations needed to
meet the demand from a rapidly expanding EV base of cars could not be met until 20 years fromnow at the current
rate of investment and installation. This leaves the government with one more unappetizing issue on a plate filled
with problems as Britain's economy, bothered by inflation, looks headed to an economic turndown. According to
The Times Although Britishvolt had been promised £100m in government funding through the Automotive
Transformation Fund, each tranche of funding was contingent on the company meeting certain milestones and
commitments.
It 's Get t ing Dark Over at Ballyhooed Towards the end of last year, the Business Secretary, Grant Shapps refused to allow the company to draw down
£30m in bridging funding on the grounds that the firm had not secured long-term external funding....The company?s
proprietary modular battery technology was (and is) still in its prototype stage and according to The Times, one
Brit ish Volt source close to Aston Martin said talks with Britishvolt over its technology had progressed slower than expected,

and it had not received sample products it had requested.

image courtesy of British Volt/ Aston Martin

A memorandum of understanding was to see a joint team from Aston Martin and Britishvolt work
together to design, develop and devise ways to productionise new battery packs and battery
management systems.

Both would work together to maximize the capability of new cylindrical high-performance cells being
developed by Britishvolt for use in upcoming electric and electrified Aston Martin vehicles.
Aston Martin?s electrification strategy will see deliveries commencing in 2024 of the company?s first
plug-in hybrid, the Valhalla supercar, as well as an electrified powertrain option across all product lines
by 2026. By 2030, the company intends that its core models will be fully electric.
Now the plan has come apart. According to The Times in its January 23rd edition, a headline read, "
Business Leaders Warn of Bleak Fut ure for Brit ish Aut omot ive Indust ry in t he Wake of
Brit ishVolt Collapse--Major blow for t he nort h-east and Brit ain

The former CEO of Aston Martin, Dr. Andy Palmer, has warned that unless the UK ramps up electric
vehicle battery production, the entire UK automotive industry faces a bleak future.
Palmer?s comments on Twitter come in the wake of the news on Tuesday (January 17) that the EV
battery start-up Britishvolt had entered administration after failing to secure emergency funding.

Palmer said a fundamental ?mismatch? exists between the UK government?s current plan to ban the sale
of petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and the lack of an industrial strategy to achieve that goal.
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