Recharging?

Britishvolt ran out of money, preventing it accessing large amounts of promised government funding. The collapsed company is now being taken over by Australia-based Recharge Industries. This take over, revives hopes of creating a £3.8bn 'gigafactory' to make batteries for British-built electric cars. The gigafactory was intended to be located in the North of England, as part of so-called 'levelling up' (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/27/australian-startup-recharge-finalises-deal-to-take-over-uk-battery-maker-britishvolt). 'Levelling up' was a claimed government aim, to make the UK economy less London-centric. Britishvolt's demise was largely attributed to the considerable sums it spent on battery technology and research. Recharge Industries will not have this expense, as it has a relationship with American lithium battery developer C4V. It's long been argued, however, that many UK industries show poor productivity, because they spend so little on Research and Development (R&D). This latest development is unlikely to change UK R&D spending. It will also be interesting to see where any 'gigafactory', if one materialises, is built.