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BritishVolt – a company which had previously shortlisted St Athan as the location for an electric vehicle battery factory – announced last week it has instead chosen a former power plant site in Blythe, Northumberland.
The company (which it’s worth saying, has no track record of producing batteries) says the gigafactory could create up to 3,000 jobs off the back of a £2.6billion investment.
The Welsh Government said they were disappointed, adding that: “Given the ambitious timescales that the company is working to, it has been mutually agreed that Bro Tathan will not be the site of Britishvolt’s first gigaplant.”
It was the second major blow to the Welsh automotive sector in as many days after Ineos confirmed they will build a new off-road vehicle in a recently-vacated plant on the Franco-German border instead of Bridgend.
It’s said the Welsh Government has invested up to £4million in preparatory works for the Bridgend factory, which they will seek to reclaim from Ineos.
