New Oxfordshire battery plant will bring 300 jobs
A new battery plant set to be opened in Kidlington, Oxfordshire, by WAE Technologies will bring around 300 new jobs to the area.
According to ITV, the news was confirmed by the firm, which started out as the technical offshoot of the Williams Formula 1 team, after it was announced by owner Andrew Forrest at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.
He told the broadcaster: “We invested heavily in British technology, British knowhow and British work ethic last year.
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“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. It will [create] hundreds and hundreds of new British jobs.”
The news follows days after Britishvolt, an electric car battery firm, fell into administration making most of its around 300 workers redundant. In the wake of this, the parliamentary business committee has launched an inquiry into the supply of batteries for electric vehicle manufacturing in the UK.
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Featured image: iStock
