Recharge Industries completes BritishVolt deal
Australian startup Recharge Industries has completed the acquisition of the assets of failed UK battery startup BritishVolt.
Based in Geelong, Australia, the firm is currently developing Australia’s first large-scale lithium-ion cell production plant as well as investing in research and development of next-generation energy storage systems.
Recharge says it can build a gigafactory and is negotiating with a leading fund manager on the location. Fund manager Abrdn owns the site at Cambois outside Blyth in north-east England originally planned for the BritishVolt plant.
The key is the technology licensed from C4V in the US.
“Our proposal combined our financial, commercial, technology and manufacturing capabilities, with a highly credible plan to put boots and equipment on the ground quickly,” said David Collard, Founder and CEO of Scale Facilitation which owns Recharge. “Our technology – including an exclusive license for the intellectual property and battery technology – has been developed and validated over the last decade through C4V in the US and will be the backbone of both gigafactories in Geelong and Cambois.
“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.
“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,” he said.
