VW plans to make a quarter of all its sales battery-electric by the end of 2026, and has earmarked a massive €90bn to be spent on new technology. The market valuation of Ford, meanwhile, has surged past the $100bn mark for the first time after pledging $30bn of investment.
Sales have taken off. Tesla’s Model 3 was the UK’s second best-selling car of 2021, though it is thought the vast majority of those are company cars as executives strive to display their green credentials. One in four of the 1.65m vehicles sold last year were able to run in some form of zero-emission mode.
The problem for Britishvolt, as with seemingly any large project that this Government leaps aboard, is that the reality rarely matches the hype. It is obsessed with big announcements to hitch one of its slogans to, so it lays down public money in the path of one passing bandwagon after another without scrutinising the economic or business case properly.
Britishvolt is a laudable venture and raising a big chunk of the capital required to kickstart construction is an important step. But as things stand, and uncharitable as it sounds, it still doesn’t amount to much more than a powerpoint presentation, planning permission, and a heavy dose of hope.
It got off to a rocky start, with co-founder Lars Carlstrom quitting in December 2020 after it emerged that he was convicted for tax fraud in Sweden two decades ago, and it still can’t boast a single customer. Nissan, the UK’s biggest car maker located in nearby Sunderland, has its own battery plans.
For Britishvolt to have a chance, it needs a big deal with one of the top carmakers. Yet, in an interview with the BBC’s Today programme, Rolton hinted that its first contract is likely to come from the public transport sector.
There are also reports that sports car-maker Lotus is considering signing up, but that’s hardly a guarantee of survival. It made 1,700 cars last year, and its only electric model is a £2m hypercar, while several future ranges will be built at a factory in China, the home of parent company Geely.
Subsidising Britishvolt risks putting the cart before the horse on the road to electric nirvana. Supply should follow demand, not the other way round.
Yet the Government appears to be trying to stimulate demand for batteries by creating supply, and that could end badly, with all of us footing the bill.
