Britishvolt did not tell S&P Global Platts the value of the government funding, though a source familiar with the matter said it was thought to be around GBP100 million.

UK Government support will be provided for the funding through the Automotive Transition Fund, administered by the Advanced Propulsion Center, or APC.

ATF is a government funding initiative that aims to develop a sustainable, zero-emission technology automotive supply chain in the UK and support delivery of the government's 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution and its Transport Decarbonization Plan.

UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said in a press release: “The investment underscores the government’s ambitions for the UK to be a world leader in the battery industry, having already established a unique and impressive ecosystem that includes WMG, University of Warwick, the Advanced Propulsion Centre, The Faraday Institute and UK Battery Industrialisation Centre.”

It also said private investment firms Tritax and abrdn had joined forces to become a Britishvolt partner that will finance construction of the gigafactory's shell and core and the development of a supplier park associated with the plant.

Abrdn -- with global capabilities across real assets and investment -- holds a 60% stake in Tritax Management, which focuses on deploying capital into the UK and European logistics real estate.

The cell maker is constructing a 30 GWh gigafactory physically, producing annually enough battery cells for around 300,000 electric vehicle battery packs, covering 25% of the current UK vehicle manufacturing.

Demand for autos and light commercials will be more than 90GWh/year, which corresponds to over 11% of the demand across Europe, Britishvolt chairman Peter Rolton said after the APC had found.

“This is the first foundational step to have a commercialized battery ecosystem, which seamlessly fits into the current R&D ecosystem,” Rolton said in a statement.

“Britishvolt will be the magnet for attracting more elements of the supply chain, whether it’s refining or recycling, to co-locate on the Britishvolt site. This not only shortens supply chains, but enables partners access to the abundance of renewable energy available on site to truly power low-carbon, sustainable battery production,” he said.

Britishvolt is in talks with customers, automakers and other companies and said it was set to make a series of announcements in the coming weeks, including customer memorandum of understandings and research and development collaborations, relationships with UK automotive sports car brands and technology releases.