After the collapse of Britishvolt, the news that Australian  iron ore miner Fortescue is opening an advanced battery plant in Oxfordshire is welcome.

Fortescue founder Andrew Forrest (pictured) is building on the capabilities of Williams Advanced Engineering    the technical arm of Williams F1 –  which he bought last year.

“We invested heavily in British technology, British knowhow and British work ethic last year,” Forrest told Sky News at Davos, “but then we’ve said: ‘Listen, it’s great you’ve got the most advanced, innovative prototype batteries in the world… but we’ve got to get into manufacturing.”


“So last year, we started building a large factory in Kidlington. We’ll open it in April with hundreds and hundreds of new British jobs,” added Forrest.

“And that’s only the start,” he continued, “I want to expand it from there and I want to take that technology to Australia, to North America. I want to really stop the British brain drain and bring the smartest British engineers home.”

“These are batteries which are going to be everywhere: in motorbikes, cars, trucks,” said Foreest, “even our huge mining trucks in Australia, even trains.”

The Kidlington plant will initially create up to 300 jobs and focus on fuel cells and batteries for HGVs.

The Kidlington plant will produce up to 400MW/h per year of battery modules and integrated power systems.

Williams Advanced Engineering hopes to duplicate the Kidlington plant in facilities around the world.

It also plans to build a new manufacturing and prototype test facility in the UK.