the electric car battery maker britishvolt has gone into administration after hopes of a last minute bid for the company faded. the collapse raises questions about uk hopes of building a home grown battery industry. the company, which had plans to build a gigafactory to make the uk start up had been expecting to build a new 5.8 billion or $4.7 billion factory in northumberland, as part of a long term vision to boost uk manufacturing. well, this promotional video shows what the factory with a capability to make 300,000 electric batteries a year would have looked like. the plan was to create 3,000 jobs at the plant. now, administrators have taken over the business and most of britishvolt s 300 staff are being made redundant. here s our business editor simonjack. so what went wrong? britishvolt was a start up company with no track record. their battery technology was only at the prototype stage. although there are expressions of interest from lotus and aston martin, they
tries to slash emissions? colin walker is transport lead at the energy and climate intelligence unit. he says. well, evidently, that has taken a blow today. around a year ago, former prime minister borisjohnson talked of the britishvolt plant being part of the uk s global green industrial revolution . and his government promised britishvolt £100 million in support. but when the company asked for a £30 million advance last year, ministers refused, as the company had not hit agreed construction milestones to access the funds. here s steve bush from the unite union. we have a government statement today, saying.
this is colin walker, transport lead at the energy and climate intelligence unit. in its net zero strategy, the government said it wanted the uk s automotive sector to stay at the cutting edge and capture the jobs of the future. building a domestic battery manufacturing sector is crucial if this ambition is to be realised. well around a year ago, former prime minister borisjohnson talked of the britishvolt plant being part of the uk s global green industrial revolution . and his government promised britishvolt100 million pounds in support. but when the company asked for a thirty million pound advance last year, ministers refused, as the company had not hit agreed construction milestones to access the funds. this is a government statement today: we offered significant support to britishvolt through the automotive transformation fund on the condition that key milestones, including private investment commitments were met. we remained hopeful that britishvolt would find a suitable inv