Podcasts about britishvolt

Dr. Isobel Sheldon OBE, a self-taught pioneer in battery technology, has dedicated her career to advancing sustainable transportation and cleaner air. Driven by childhood asthma and a fascination with electric vehicles, she broke into battery engineering without a traditional Ph.D., instead receiving an honorary doctorate recognising her lifelong contributions. Her journey spans early plug-in hybrids to today's cutting-edge EV batteries, where she pushes for efficiency, supply chain resilience, and public understanding. Reflecting on setbacks like Britishvolt's collapse, Isobel remains committed to decentralising the battery industry, advocating that true progress demands both innovation and a shared commitment to sustainability. Elizabeth Sheldon https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-isobel-sheldon-obe-dsc-h-c-62a0b987/ Western CAM https://www.western-cam.com

In this two-part episode, host Richard Delevan digs in on critical minerals with Jeremy Wrathall, the founder and CEO of Cornish Lithium. As the UK and other nations navigate their climate goals, we explore how companies like Cornish Lithium are developing sustainable, domestic sources of lithium and other critical minerals essential for the green energy transition. With the recent Labour Party conference and discussions around industrial strategy, this conversation couldn't be more timely.And we bring back our panel including Ben Cooke, Earth Editor at The Times, Freya Pratty from Sifted, and Ben Kilbey of BOLD VOODOO for insights into policy, energy infrastructure, and the broader European context.Key Segments:[00:02:14]Jeremy explains why Cornish Lithium's designation as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project is crucial, and how the company aims to supply lithium for EV batteries and grid-scale energy storage.[00:04:07] The discussion turns to the broader lithium market, its fluctuations, and the role of UK and European supply chains, especially after challenges faced by companies like Britishvolt and Northvolt.[00:11:37]Jeremy and Richard discuss future innovations in battery technology, including solid-state batteries and the importance of securing local, low-carbon sources of critical minerals like lithium.[00:15:24] Jeremy touches on the need for governmental support in de-risking critical mineral investments, comparing UK policy to the US Inflation Reduction Act.[00:18:15]Insights into European supply chains, partnerships, and the strategic importance of lithium beyond the UK.[00:26:00] Richard is joined by Ben Cooke (The Times), Freya Pratty (Sifted), and Ben Kilbey (Bold Voodoo) to analyze Labour's climate policy, UK battery supply chain challenges, and Northvolt's recent setbacks.Links and Resources:Cornish Lithium: Learn more about the company Jeremy Wrathall leads, which is driving the UK's critical mineral extraction efforts. Cornish LithiumThe Times Earth Summit: Join Ben Cook and other experts in London for an in-depth look at climate and energy policy. Register for The Times Earth SummitSifted: Freya Pratty's coverage of climate tech startups and subscribe to her Climate Tech newsletter. Sifted.euSubscription Info:If you're enjoying Wicked Problems - Climate Tech Conversations, make sure to subscribe at wickedproblems.earth for ad-free episodes and early access to new content. Consider supporting the show with a paid subscription to help keep these conversations going. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How is the automotive industry meeting the lofty government goals that new diesel and petrol cars and vans will no longer be sold from 2030, and that all new cars and vans must be fully zero emission at the tailpipe from 2035? Will Stirling interviews Ian Constance, CEO of the Advanced Propulsion Centre Often mere words do not do the task justice. The transition to net zero automotive – think about that for a minute. The easy part is to visualise switching powertrains from petrol and diesel to electric (EVs), then designing and building processes for the mass volume manufacture of EVs – a huge engineering challenge. But this complexity covers materials, batteries and gigafactories, electric machines and drives, rare earths, power electronics, fuel cells, and more, such as their supply chain viability. Then there is the charging and hydrogen fuelling infrastructure. Supply chain security of key materials, including rare earth materials mined in just a few global locations, R&D investment in the right areas, technology scale-up, geopolitical risk, and market reaction to new technology. An important actor in this complex landscape is the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC), the government agency tasked with managing funding programmes, judging applications and assisting companies that have good, low-carbon tech solutions. The APC administers the Automotive Transformation Fund, a £1bn+ fund to help eligible companies make the low carbon transition. It has run a suite of projects, funds and accelerator programmes since 2013. CEO Ian Constance needs to juggle all these balls, and the clock is ticking, but he spared 30 minutes for MTD magazine. Ian says: “The Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)'s mission is to enable the UK to stay at the forefront of the global transition to smarter, safer, and importantly, more sustainable automotive and mobility solutions. The other part of APC is Zenzic, an agency investigating future-related, autonomous mobility – driverless vehicles.” What are the net zero automotive trends as we head towards 2025? “In the last 12 months, we've gone from a position of very high growth to flatlining and a bit of stagnation in the EV market, so what you're seeing there is a shift back towards HEVs (hybrid) and PHEVs (plug-in hybrids). I believe that is a short or medium-term shift and is driven by a few factors including rising populism in politics. But given the money and plans put into getting to net zero, we will find our way back to growth in BEV, battery electric vehicles. MTD readers are interested in the net zero automotive shift generally, and in manufacturing opportunities specifically. Recently the APC produced a report on the electric motor market, and the change in motor technology – indicating there is a slow shift from the dominance of permanent magnet synchronous motors to non-magnet motors like induction motors. Do both provide good opportunities for UK engineering businesses? “We have some very capable businesses that are scaling up here,” says Constance. “One of them is AEM, Advanced Electric Machines, based in the Northeast, who are developing magnet-free motors. In general, we have a very strong traction motor community in the UK comprised of various companies that are developing tech in this space, and a lot of them are using magnetic rare earth materials. There is Yasa in Oxfordshire, Protean in the Southwest who specialise in in-wheel electric motors, and there are plenty of others as well. So, the motor manufacturing opportunities are massive for the UK.” “Ford is investing heavily in Halewood, with support from the APC. They are turning this big factory from a manual transmission plant, clearly a technology that's intimately linked with internal combustion engines, over to electric drive units at high volume for export. Ford is doing that because it sees the UK as an important place to put that technology and create that mass volume.” “On the motor technology shift: Permanent magnet motors are generally high performance and are lower cost (than rival tech) at this stage. They need rare earth materials. The non rare earth magnet motors, and non-magnet motors (induction and electrically excited synchronous motors), are an important hedge against the volatility of rare earth material prices and supply, which is expected to go through the roof. That volatility and the geopolitical angle is a hedge that that many people want to make sure that they're on the right side of.” Rare earth reliability, and gigafactories for specialist vehicles A big, less visible part of the APC's work is research and policy work into securing these essential materials. As rare earth supply is dominated by China and a handful of countries in much smaller volumes, supply security is paramount. “You need to mine the ore, the raw stuff, in a clean and sustainable way, then you have to process the materials into rare earths, then into magnet materials, produce magnets, which are then used in the motor – it's a classic supply chain, with risks. We (the UK) are looking to create those supply chains back to friendly nations that we feel we can make long-term strategic partnerships with. The processing part of it is as important as the availability of the materials.” The mainstream net-zero automotive news has been dominated by gigafactories, so-called in reference to the capacity of the batteries made there. Building these factories in countries that manufacture EVs is essential, due to the dollar and carbon costs of shipping batteries, plus these are vast investments, and create thousands of jobs and supplier contracts. The UK's gigafactory picture is, some might say, behind its European peers following the loss of Britishvolt in 2023. Constance contests whether Britain is far behind the pack. “We (the UK) had the first gigafactory in Europe, a small one in the Northeast with just over one gigawatt hour (GWh) that supports the Nissan Leaf. Yes, the UK footprint is confined to two new massive gigafactory commitments, one which is Envision AESC and linked to Nissan, and the second is Agritas, part of the Tata Group, in the Southwest. Look at the potential of those two facilities, they could jointly produce over 70 GWh of battery cells. Our forecast is that by 2030 we will need around 90-95 GWh, so we are well on our way to fulfilling these requirements. “But these things are never that simple, are they? Two of our biggest vehicle manufacturers, Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover, will be certainly supported by those two gigafactories. We will need more to look after some of the bigger carmakers, but also very importantly, specialist vehicle manufacturers, which is such a strength of the UK; sports cars, luxury, and heavy-duty vehicles and off-road machines – all of those are going to need a supply of batteries. If people need a specialist vehicle, they might want a specialist battery. So getting into that specialist battery domain is a real focus for the future.” With batteries also come materials, and lithium is the primary base material for battery anodes and cathodes. But lithium, like rare earths, has a limited supply chain. “There are several different flavours of lithium battery. Beyond that, sodium is the next best element, but it has limitations. We are going to be dominated by lithium, particularly in the UK that has medium-to-high mass production vehicles. That's where the attention should be.” Hydrogen's changing role Hydrogen has had an interesting story. It was the wonder material for about three years, then media interest seemed to cool as the hype cycle shifted. How is it now developing in the UK car market? “We are increasingly asked to fund and look at projects involving hydrogen and hydrogen propulsion, much of that is around fuel cells,” says Constance. “Some of it is around hydrogen combustion that's more suitable for off-highway and construction.” “The APC's view is that fast forward another 10 years, most light-duty vehicles (vans and cars) will be battery electric. Then medium-duty trucks will have a mixture of battery electric and potentially hydrogen fuel vehicles, and for heavy-duty, long distance 40 tonners, etc – there's a big case for hydrogen combustion there.” There are three legs to this stool: the availability of the technology on the vehicle to do the job cost-effectively and efficiently, the availability of the infrastructure to support the delivery of whatever the energy medium is – hydrogen or electricity. And the third bit is, making the conditions right for the market. You need the three legs together.” Finally, what other manufacturing opportunities are there for subcontract companies in the EV transition? “Three areas, I'd highlight,” says Constance. “Giga-castings is a rising area of light-weighting and efficient vehicle manufacturing. Tesla reimagined the way cars are built by using massive front end and rear end castings rather than spot welding or bonding aluminium sections together. Can we develop more of that? Also the design of drives shafts is changing for an EV powertrain. There is growth of driverless pods operating in in secure space or in semi-secure space like airports. This is a step in completely reimagining a vehicle into lightweight, highly manoeuvrable modes of transport. Although these are complex machines, the barriers to entry here are lower than for developing a mass-market vehicle.”  

In this episode, Paul and Sara sit down with Ben Kilbey, founder of BOLD Voodoo, a communications collaborative focusing on sustainability and clean energy. Ben shares insights from his journey, emphasising the importance of honesty and collaboration in communications. He discusses the challenges faced during his time at Britishvolt and the transition to establishing BOLD Voodoo. Ben also highlights the significance of mental health, the value of mentorship, and his commitment to raising female voices in the energy sector. His mission is clear: to foster a successful energy transition by uniting stakeholders and driving impactful communications. Ben Kilbey https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-kilbey-543b5021/ Watch this episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/fQdN00VK0BY

RIP to HS2, we hardly knew ye! But fear not, uneconomical peasants of the North; you will now receive Network North which is real and don't ask any more questions. We're joined by Train Correspondent Gareth Dennis to talk rail, bankruptcies, and the continuing saga of BritishVolt! Find Gareth Dennis online and also there's Railnatter if you're a trainperson! Get premium pod, cutting room floor bits, discord and more for a mere Patreon fiver!  The merch store has t-shirts and other items to show your true devotion.  Vidjas Game on the Twitch Zone BlueSky: Pod Account, David, Rob, Alasdair, Jamie, James

Inchcape agrees £346m deal to sell UK retail operations to US giant Group 1 Automotive What makes UK dealer groups so attractive to US investors? We ask industry experts for their take Alfa Romeo forced to rename upcoming ‘Milano' after model accused of breaking Italian law Britishvolt gigafactory hopes set to end with Blyth site due to be sold to private equity firm GWM Ora to inspect condition of EV car batteries after crashes to cut waste Battery-electric vehicle sales poised to hit 414,000 mark in 2024, says Cap HPI --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/car-dealer-magazine/message

Blackstone's mega data centre has risen from the ashes of BritishVolt's Northumberland dreams. Place North analysis editor David Thame explores the stalling EV revolution and what that means for the push for data centres. Plus: good news all around for Leeds offices and Newcastle BTR. Subscribe to The Subplot newsletter fro FREE: placenorth.co.uk

FOLLOW UP: BYD HELPED BY CHINESE GOVERNMENTA report is claiming that BYD has received $3.7 billion, in funding from the Chinese Government, to help it to reach its dominating position. This is all part of the EU's investigation into whether companies from the country have an unfair advantage thanks to state aid. Click this Yahoo Finance article link for more information. FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT SITE TO BE SOLD BY COUNCILThe site of the ill-fated Britishvolt battery factory is to be sold by the local council, to a company that wishes to create a data centre, after the new ‘owners' Recharge Industries, have still failed to pay the monies owning. If you wish to learn more, click this BBC News article link here. WLTP DOES NOT REFLECT REAL WORLD USE REPORT FINDSTwo reports from the European Court of Auditors have shown that the testing regime, WLTP, results, do not come close to real-world usage on the public roads. Other conclusions have also been inferred by the investigation, however we would urge caution as not enough detail has been provided in how the data was calculated and if that was correct or even valid. But, there are now calls for the system to change, once again, at a time when the car industry is under enormous pressure from multiple vectors. You can read more, by clicking this Autocar article link here. 2023 LOSSES FOR LOTUSLotus announced losses for 2023, of £594 million. Whilst this does sound a lot and quite scary, we must all remember the transformation that is undergoing the company right now. They are fundamentally changing how they do things and the cars they produce in an incredibly short period of time. For more detail, click this Autocar article link here. BIT OF A WEEK FOR STELLANTISStellantis, and in particular their CEO Carlos Taveres, had quite the last seven or so days. First off there was the public spat about the Italian Government trying to cosy up to foreign car companies, to encourage more manufacturing jobs in the country, which Taveres warned over such moves. You can read more, by clicking this link to a Reuters article. That's not all though, Taveres then had to fend off questions over which brand or brands the Stellantis Group were going to ditch. He refuted these claims as “fake news”. Click this Autocar article link for more. You'll have to wait till New New Car News for the third piece of Stellantis news. VW INVESTING MORE IN CHINAVolkswagen has announced that it will be investing $2.7 billion in a Chinese manufacturing site. This is quite odd, as only recently the “roof is on fire” speech from their CEO and huge cost-cutting efforts across the group. On top of which, there is ever...

In this Very Special Patreon Premium we meet this pod's very own Australian flimflam artist who pinky-promised to revive the corpse of BritishVolt by way of ??? It's going as well as you think. Also featuring good deals on hydrocarbons. THIS EPISODE IS EVEN BETTER IN FULL-LENGTH, PREMIUM FORMAT. PAY US.    We're all on bluesky these days: David, Rob, Alasdair, Jamie, James

Tata's £4bn battery gigafactory and a £600m investment in BMW's MINI factory headline big investments and rising orders across manufacturing in 2023. But the pincer effect of high inflation, high interest rates and high demands from recovering OEMs is putting cash pressures on SMEs. Can they get the help they need to service the recovery and benefit from it, asks Will Stirling 2023 was a year of strained recovery for the manufacturing sector. After severe component supply delays caused by fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War, 2023 edged back to normality – or a new, more expensive normal. But as the orders returned, crippling inflation and high interest rates bit hard. Tata Group delivered a wonderful present to British industry and the beleaguered Tory government when it confirmed it would invest £4bn in a new battery gigafactory in England, understood to be Somerset, with a £500m Treasury subsidy. With the near collapse of Britishvolt's plan to build a gigafactory in Blyth and no news of the proposed West Midlands battery plant, the huge investment brings jobs and shows the UK's viability to other volume electric vehicle battery makers. The big question: will the plant manufacture high-value battery components, or simply be a giant assembly plant for parts made abroad? Staying with automotive, BMW announced a huge £600m investment in the MINI factory near Oxford to build electric cars. Production of two new electric MINI models is due to begin in 2026. As well as safeguarding the 4,000 jobs across Mini's two UK sites, it was a relief to many observers who thought that post-Brexit BMW might offshore Mini production wholesale to Germany. It could be interpreted as a strong example of recent efforts, led by Germany, for easier trade arrangements between the UK and the European Union. Sustainability and carbon reduction have returned as the number one business agenda, or number two after surviving inflation. Whatever your politics on fossil fuel and renewable energy, drilling approval of the Rosebank oilfield will also bring hundreds of jobs and a fortune in tax revenue, although the government showed ill-judged myopathy when setting a low guaranteed price for new wind power electricity prices. This meant just a few MW of new wind farm licenses were purchased in the latest offshore wind auction with Greenpeace dubbing it ‘the biggest disaster for clean energy policy in the last eight years'. Also in September, business group Make UK's annual analysis of manufacturing numbers showed the UK is now the 8th largest manufacturing nation in the world. The media and social media went berserk, with ‘8th biggest' setting LinkedIn alight. The UK's margin over the new 9th placer, France, is small and the numbers are fluid, meaning while it's cause for celebration it should not be taken as a long-term sign of ladder climbing. The aerospace industry is recovering strongly. Global aviation capacity should exceed its 2019 record by the end of 2023, as the airline industry returns to long-run econometric trends. Passenger demand recovery as measured by ‘revenue-passenger-kilometres' is, industry insiders say, largely due to the reopening of China's domestic market. Aerospace business group ADS says there is now a record backlog of orders for aircraft and engines – over US$1 trillion out to 2031, meaning aircraft production is ramping up to previously unknown highs. Airbus directly employs nearly 12,000 across all its manufacturing divisions and was on track to hire hundreds more in 2023. The company indirectly supports 79,000 jobs in the UK. “Like many in the industry, Airbus has had to navigate operational complications stemming from lagging post-Covid factors, including availability of material and skilled resources,” is what Paul McKinlay, Senior Vice President and Head of Wing Major Component Assembly, Airbus told MTD exclusively. “[However]… our supply chain is still subject to the challenges of recession, inflation, energy price volatility and of course, geopolitical tensions. Saying that, we have progressed well across all business lines in 2023 and the demand for commercial aircraft remains strong as evidenced by more than 800 orders announced at the Paris Air Show this summer. He adds: “Airbus continues to invest in our supply chain network, spending £3.9bn on goods and services last year in the UK with around 3,000 suppliers right across the country, 50% of which were SMEs. This gives us a solid degree of resilience in our supply chain as we execute our ramp-up on all commercial aircraft programmes (A220, A320 family, widebody family). We announced that we intend to ramp up our A320 wing production in North Wales to an unprecedented 75 aircraft per month in 2026.” All good news, right? SMEs squeezed as production rates ramp-up The flipside of much higher production rates is pressure applied to SMEs in the supply chain – including MTD's readers. “In the supply chain, surviving the Covid-induced downturn was difficult; but as always predicted, for many smaller businesses surviving the upswing, with all the cash demands that brings, is at least as tough,” says industry veteran Andrew Churchill, of JJ Churchill in Market Bosworth. “Having cut employment during the downturn, a fifth of suppliers are now reporting vacancies and they have difficulty recruiting. There are currently 90,000 vacancies in the UK manufacturing sector.” He adds: “This, together with the much higher borrowing costs, higher energy bills, escalating raw material costs and often deferred capex investment means that many of the aerospace primes' suppliers will be the weak link when it comes to delivering the rate ramp-up.” It's a sadly familiar trend – the boom-bust cycle of the industry, while arguably far smoother today than the giddy 1980s-2010s, means SMEs struggle to grow into mid-sized companies with the critical mass and diversification to survive a big downturn without shedding staff and expertise. Despite the high vacancies, manufacturing created a lot of jobs in 2023. BAE Systems is on track to hire more than 2,600 new apprentices and graduates in 2023, a 43% increase on the careers intake in 2022. Manufacturing in the UK still employs 2.6 million people, which has remained reassuringly static for several years. It could be higher if the labour market was blessed with the skills and experience many engineering companies need. 2023 was disappointing for many companies and industry advocates who desperately want an industrial strategy with a long-term, 10+ year horizon. This elusive strategy, and a minister for manufacturing, have been heavily campaigned for on social media by people including Andrea Rodney, Managing Director at Hone-All Precision in Leighton Buzzard. Sadly, and staggeringly, the government “still fails to recognise the damage that the lack of a cogent long-term industrial strategy does to sector investment. The UK is the only major economy not to consider this as important,” Andrew Churchill says. In the automotive industry, all the numbers are up, up, up on 2022 – and praise the Lord. In August, the latest month with complete numbers, total car manufacturing was up nearly 12% on 2022 (to date), and car exports were up 14.4%. Commercial vehicles up 14.4% on 2022 to August, and exports were up 23%. Over 450,00 cars were built here in the first six months of 2023 (Source: all the SMMT). As reported in October, the rapid expansion of clean energy, electric cars and heat pumps means that energy-related CO2 emissions are likely to peak by 2025, according to the International Energy Agency. Lies, damned lies, and statistics. One can always find numbers to support your argument – or discredit it. While recovery is still the watchword for 2023, some numbers tell a different story. Figures and news from automotive, aerospace, medical and oil & gas sectors support the upswing. But the number of companies trading in manufacturing, across all sub-sectors, has fallen in 2023 since 2021 by 3% or 4,265 companies. That's a lot of firms to lose in two years. The biggest category for insolvencies: “Manufacture of fabricated metal products; except machinery and equipment. This is down 15% or a whopping 4,195 companies. It doesn't quite match the message of record order books in aerospace (aircraft and engines) and the storming return in automotive as seen above, as well as the high growth in electric vehicles – 23.2% of all new cars in the UK are either electric or plug-in hybrid,” says ZapMap. The curate's egg: Manufacturing in 2024 So will 2024 fare better than 2023? Paul McKinlay emphasises Airbus' strong pipeline, as it ramps up to 75 aircraft per month. “In being clear and communicative with our supply chain network about this pace, we're laying the groundwork for ensuring quality performance and missing parts reduction.” But he adds: “However, the challenges we've seen in 2023 are likely to bleed into 2024. We need to see greater support for our UK SMEs partners, giving them the financial security they need to scale operations. That's how the UK will be able to drive competitiveness over the next decade.” Andrew Churchill's 2024 glass is half-full, as he concludes: “Despite the ‘curate's-egg' that UK manufacturing represents, I remain optimistic. For the first time in six years, we have climbed the world ranking of manufacturing nations from 9th to 8th – overtaking France, 41% of all UK R&D is from the manufacturing sector and our goods account for an amazing 49% of total UK exports. Just think what we could achieve with a long-term industrial strategy, affordable and secure industrial energy, a full review of the Apprenticeship Levy and a clear path to helping manufacturers de-carbonise!” Just think…. Are you listening Sir Keir Starmer?

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT OWNER SERVED NOTICE ON UNPAID WAGESAn ex employee has served a legal notice on Recharge Industries, the “owner” of the failed battery manufacturer Britishvolt, for unpaid wages. If the money is not forthcoming, the firm could be pursued further with bankruptcy proceedings being an option. Click this link to read more from The Guardian. FOLLOW UP: CRUISE HALTS ALL OPERATIONS AND CEO RESIGNSCruise has now halted all ride-hailing operations, even those with human safety drivers. On top of that Kyle Vogt has resigned as CEO of the company. Also departing is fellow co-founder Daniel Kan. You can see more by clicking this link to an article from The Register, which shows a timeline of recent events including the astonishing creation of a chief safety officer ten years after the company was formed. TESLA HITTING A UNION WALL IN SWEDENTesla is refusing to allow a Swedish union to use a ‘collective bargaining agreement', with the members of the IF Metall union in their repair centres. They have been trying to get the company to do this for five years. They are now on strike and as is the way in Sweden, other unions are showing their support by refusing to do work with or for Tesla. You can find out more, by clicking this link to an Associated Press article. UK GOVERNMENT PLEDGES CASH TO FIX SOME POTHOLESThe UK Government has made a big announcement at how they are allocating some of the money that would have been spent on HS2 to fixing some of the potholes on our roads, over the next eleven years. Unfortunately, as Paul Lomax makes clear, it is a drop in an ocean of underfunding, which you can read more by clicking this Twitter thread here, for context. To find out more on this story, click this Autocar link here. UK GOVERNMENT INVESTS IN EV AUTO INDUSTRY The UK Government also announced that it is assigning £2 billion to help the automotive industry transition to the new zero emission market. However, as the chaps and the Business and Trade Select Committee in Parliament point out, this is welcome but where is the strategy or this is just throwing money without a plan. If you wish to learn more, click this link from Autocar Professional. AMAZON US TO SELL CARS FOR HYUNDAI ONLINEAmazon and Hyundai announced that they will team up to sell cars online in the United States, from late 2024. Full details have yet to emerge, including how will full prices be declared. On top of that, Hyundai will be adding Alexa to their new cars from 2025. Click this BBC News article link for more. MERSEYSIDE POLICE USE CAMERAS TO CATCH TRAFFIC OFFENCE VIOLATIONSMerseyside police are using a camera system that spots if drivers are using a mobile phone with their hands or occupants do not have their seatbelts on. To clarify, it is not “AI” it is image recognition. More can be learned

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT STAFF NOT PAID FOR MONTHSRecharge Industries, the company that has bought Britishvolt, although not finalised payment yet, has not paid UK staff for the last four months. Once again, the poor staff let down by management. If you would like to read more, including how much belief employees have in the assurances given, click this BBC News article link here. FOLLOW UP: JLR PARTS ISSUE TO LAST INTO 2024 JLR have confirmed that they are improving the repair parts backlog, they're experiencing. With the steps being made, they anticipate getting back on track in 2024. The issue has been acknowledged by CEO Adrian Mardell. To read more, click this Jalopnik article link here. FOLLOW UP: TESLA NOT FOUND LIABLE FOR MODEL 3 CRASHA jury has decided that Tesla and their Autopilot software are not responsible for the accident that led to the driver's death and passenger injuries, back in 2019. The claim was the software was faulty, there are arguments that how lawyers are pursing such cases is flawed and will ensure they never win such cases. If you want to read more about the case, click this article link from The Register. To find out more about why Michael DeKort thinks the legal cases are destined to fail, click this LinkedIn post link. OCTOBER 2023 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURESThe SMMT published the figures of the new car registrations for October 2023. A big jump in registrations over all, but BEVs only managed to capture 15% market share, which is less than in previous months. Another concern, for the industry, is how reliant they now are on Fleet registrations as Private remained the same as last year. Click here to read more, from the SMMT. SMMT CONNECTED AND AUTOMATED MOBILITY REPORTSticking with the SMMT, they published a report based on KPMG research in to the potential connected and automated mobility aspects of the industry. Whilst a lot of it is incredibly optimistic in terms of potential earnings, impact and job creation, one chart caught Alan's eye regarding which could be the sectors fastest and most likely to become automated and take advantage of connectivity. To learn more, click this link from the SMMT. DRIVERLESS FIFE BUS NOW DRIVEN BY A HUMAN DRIVERThe bus that runs between Ferrytoll Park and Ride near Inverkeithing and Edinburgh Park, which is testing an autonomous driving system now is being fully driven by a human driver. You can read more, by clicking this link to a The Courier article. jLR POSTS RECORD REVENUESIn the last quarter, JLR posted record revenue figures as demand for the Range Rover Sport and Defender was strong. Nice to be able to say something positive about JLR. Click here to read...

FOLLOW UP: britishvolt saga takes another twistThe buyer for the bankrupt Britishvolt company, Recharge Industries, has failed to make the final payment and is in breach of contract, according to the administrator. Recently we covered the news that the Australian head office was raided by tax officials and police. Click this Autocar Business article to find out more. FOLLOW UP: TESLA RANGE CALCULATIONS EXPLAINEDFollowing the report that Tesla was deliberately misleading owners on the range of their vehicles, Car & Driver investigated how range was calculated in Teslas and compared that to other vehicles. Tesla appear to use a very simple formula which works in a very linear manner and does not adapt to conditions or driving styles. You can find out more, by clicking this link here. FOLLOW UP: LISTENER FEEDBACK Thank you, to Tony Wood, for writing in to us to tell us about the free Android app, called “Petrol Prices” which is available in the Google PlayStore, which uses crowdsourced information to tell you of the cost of fuel in areas of the UK. Tony went on to tell us of his experience of traffic lights changing dependent on whether the car is being driven in excess of the speed limit or not. He confirmed this was done in Spain a decade ago and he thought it was an excellent way to encourage better behaviour on the roads. If you would like to get in touch with us, please feel free to use our contact page, which is linked to here. HOUSE OF LORDS ASKS FOR EVIDENCE ABOUT OUR EV TRANSITIONThe House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee has asked for evidence of a strategy and plan from the Government and wider public on the transition to EVs by the mandated dates. Click here to read the Autocar article but also to find links to the committee's list of questions and how to respond. CONFUSION OVER DVLA REMINDER SERVICE AND POST OFFICE CONTRACTThank you to Meilyr Williams for sending a Mastodon thread to Andrew about confusion over the changes to the DVLA's reminder service, for car tax, which you can read by clicking here. Check it out and then go see if you are in the system for reminders or need to get on the list for reminders. Additionally, we also we informed that the DVLA is looking to cancel its contract with Post Office, which will mean there will be no way to use a Post Office for any DVLA related services. Once again, the attack on those who are not on the internet or need to do things in person rears its head. Click this link to read more. CAR INSURANCE PRICES HIT ALL TIME HIGHCar insurance prices hit a record level, according to the industry itself. The blame is being put on the costs of repair increasing at an alarming rate. However, Andrew does have personal and recent experience that shows not all costs are justifiable. You can find out more by clicking this Motoring research article link here. WARNING OVER CAR EMISSION STICKER REQUIREMENTS in europeIf you are...

Will Bain has the latest as the company buying Britishvolt misses its pay deadline. And we ask if Germany is the "sick man of the Eurozone?" as it battles flat growth. Plus ticket sales for gigs are leading the charge when it comes to summer spending, despite cost of living pressures.

Our competition to win a ticket for the Sifted Summit has now closed, thanks for entering if you took part! We're still keen to learn more about who listens to the podcast,  please take this five-question survey if you have a minute to spare: https://ftx.typeform.com/to/L2ai27FuThis week we discuss:02:14 Spotify founder Daniel Ek's Neko Health raises €60m Series A amid European expansion plans 06:38 'An inkjet printer for the periodic table' — VSParticle raises €14.5m09:14 Arrival loses key finance lifelines as troubles mount13:47 Britishvolt cofounder pins new hope on Italian gigafactory20:11 I am a successful founder — and it's the worst job I've ever had

FOLLOW UP: ALL CARS WITH THERMAL WINDOW DEVICES OWE COMPENSATION IN EUA German court has ruled any car fitted with a thermal window device is deemed illegal, thus owners can sue the manufacturer unless they can prove there is no negligence on the part of the car company. These devices were permitted by the regulations that the EU brought in, up until July 2022. Click this Autocar article link for more information. FOLLOW UP: GHOSN SUES NISSAN FOR DEFAMATION Carlos Ghosn is suing Nissan, two other companies and twelve individuals for defamation, to the tune of $1 billion, relating to his ejection from Nissan and subsequent imprisonment. You can learn more by clicking this Hagerty article link here. FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT OWNER RAIDED BY POLICEThe owner of Britishvolt, who has yet to pay for the company, has been raided by Australian police, relating to tax matters. The company stresses this is all a misunderstanding and is cooperating fully. Click this BBC News article link here, for more information. For Peter Campbell's tweet adding more context, click this link. CAR FIRMS WARN OF RULES OF ORIGIN PAINEU car companies have warned of a £3.2 billion hit if an agreement cannot be reached over ‘rules of origin' as car batteries will fail to meet the criteria imposed on them. For more on this story, click the Motoring Research article link here. NISSAN OUST COO GUPTA In a shock move, by Nissan, their Chief Operating Officer has been forced from the company under mysterious circumstances. No official reason has been given as to why the man who was steadying the ship, making it financially viable once more and even increasing market share has been kicked out. Click here, to read more from the Asia Times. HEATHROW CHARGING POINTS SHUTDOWNHeathrow short term parking EV charging points have shutdown, with no explanation from either Heathrow Airport or PodPoint. There is speculation as to why, which you can read more about from this Autocar article, linked here. Also, we recommend reading the tweet from Tim Oldland, giving realistic reasons why this may have happened and exposing a real issue as more charging points are needed across the country. Click here to see what he explains. BIDIRECTIONAL SPEED CAMERAS INSTALLED IN DEVON AND CORNWALLCertain roads in Devon and Cornwall now have bidirectional speed cameras installed, in further attempts to deal with speeding vehicles. Some are replacements, with others being new installations. To find out more and where they are, click this BBC News article link here. COUNCILS GOING APP ONLY FOR PARKING PAYMENTSOver 20 councils in the UK have moved to parking set ups that will only allow for app based...

And that's a wrap on February this week folks! While it might be cold and grey out of doors, as expected, it's hunting season and the M&A activities have been off the charts, this week in particular.Up this week:01:38 - German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon is to buy GaN Systems of Canada for $830 million in cash.02:12 - Helsinki's cash flow management SaaS Nomentia was acquired by Inflexion for a rumoured €300 million.02:20 - Milan's Nexi to purchase 80 percent of Sabadell's PayComent for €280 million.02:32 - Britishvolt finds a new owner in the Australian firm Recharge Industries. 03:45 - Summa Equity has acquired a majority stake in cybersecurity firm Logpoint.03:53 - Shell struck a deal to acquire the evpass EV charging network in Switzerland.04:49 - QDNL Participations announced the launch of a €15 million early-stage Dutch quantum fund. (With commentary from Managing Director Ton van 't Noordende).06:40 - High-Tech Gründerfonds closed a new fund at €493.8 million.08:21 - Payfit to part ways with 200 people, or 20% of its workforce. Or is it more like 290 people?09:36 - Swedish payments group Klarna aims to return to profit by the summer after posting record losses.10:05 - Revolut has posted its first annual profit of £26.3 million in 2021. And is there something fishy going on over at The Columbus Building?10:47 - Bunq released numbers and claims to now be the first EU-based neobank to report a quarterly profit. 11:04 - Starling Bank achieved its first full year of profitability, just five years after launching in app stores, and Monzo clocked up a loss of £119 million.11:36 - Wise announced that it has “reached 16 million customers served worldwide”, and revealed plans for further global expansion.12:58 - Robin's one more thing: London and Berlin account for more than 51 percent of European VC job listings14:25 - Robin checks his agenda, rustles some papers, and yes, the Tech.eu Summit IS happening on the 24th of May in Brussels! If you act now (operators are standing by) you can save €150 on our early bird tickets.16:02 - Dan runs out of breath.All this and a whole lot more on this week's episode of the Drive at Five!

➤ Kia EV9 will hit the road before the end of summer ➤ Nissan speeds up electric transition plans with new targets ➤ Britishvolt bought by Australian firm Recharge Industries ➤ Tesla Giga Berlin builds 4,000 Model Y in one week ➤ Tesla overtakes Ford in U.S. brand loyalty award for first time ➤ Fisker confirms Ocean EV deliveries will begin in spring ➤ 2024 Chevy Blazer EV spotted undisguised for the first time ➤ Lotus Type 133 caught testing ➤ Jeep to launch electric Land Rover Defender rival by 2025 ➤ UK drivers at risk of losing £9bn from electric vehicle savings ➤ CharIN praises final NEVI rules for supporting EV interoperability and open standards for charging ➤ BYD's battery base in Wenzhou with planned annual capacity of 20 GWh starts construction ➤ EV Charging Supplier Sees US Raising Costs by Cutting Off China

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT BUYER FOUNDThe Administrator for Britishvolt, EY, has narrowed down the options to the Australian firm Recharge. They are a start up and have not constructed a major project during their time. At the same time that they target getting a battery factory built in the UK they will be trying to do that same in Australia. Click here to learn more, by reading The Guardian article. FOLLOW UP: NEW DEAL DETAILS FOR THE REBEL ALLIANCE Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi announced the details for the restructuring of the alliance this week. We knew about the changes to share ownership but they also confirmed investment in Ampere by Nissan and that Mitsubishi is considering joining. To read more about the story, click this link to a Yahoo Finance article. JANUARY 2023 NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURESSMMT has released the New Car Registration figures for January 2023 and they are up on last year. Whilst it is an improvement you have to go back to 2012 for a worse year. Petrol and BEVs are up, with PHEVs also slightly increasing their numbers and diesel is down. Click here to read Tristan Young's always excellent thread. The SMMT is calling on the Government to help with the charging network and also with VED. Click here to find out more via their article. FORD EXECS GET SMALLER BONUS Due to the poorer than expected results, Ford executives are receiving a smaller than anticipated bonus, whilst non decision making staff are not affected by this change. Jim Farley, Ford's CEO, stated that it was unfair on staff who could not fix the issues that have impacted on the company's earnings. Click here to learn more from the Detroit Free Press. Talks are apparently underway between BYD and Ford, over the Saalouis factory that is slated for closure. This would give the Chinese company a foothold in Europe quite quickly. However, not everyone agrees, with some thinking it is quicker for BYD to build their pown facility. Click here for the link to the The Driven article to read more. Even more reports suggest that Ford is looking at large job loses in Europe, with one figure being as high as 3,200. To learn more, click this link to an Autocar Business article link. ARRIVAL CUTS MORE staffArrival, the beleaguered commercial EV start up has announced the cutting of a further 800 jobs. This is on the back of a senior management reshuffle where the two top jobs just swapped nameplates. Click this Guardian article link for more. MERCEDES UNVEILS BEVISIONEERS CHARITYEyebrows were raised when Mercedes sold one of two

As second massive earthquake devastates region, Tech & Science Daily speaks with Dr Tom Merry, a seismologist and postdoctoral researcher at the Australian National University in Canberra. YouTuber Logan Paul ‘hit with class-action lawsuit over NFT CryptoZoo game'. Collapsed EV battery-maker Britishvolt recharged with buyout plan.Also in this episode:Face of 2,000-year-old ancient woman reconstructed‘Superyacht' made from mirrored glass to outfox paparazziWould you travel in a self-flying plane?DNA reboot for woolly mammoths. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT BUYER SEARCHThe Administrator for Britishvolt, EY, has narrowed down the choice to five potential new owners. They are trying to select the winner by Tuesday 31 January, the day of recording. Click here for a link to the Financial Times article explaining more.FOLLOW UP: HMRC CHANGES AER CALCULATIONS Following feedback from industry, HMRC has changed how it calculates the advisory electricity rate, that dictates how much company car driving EV owners can get reimbursed for charging their car. To learn more, click this Fleet News article link here. AKIO TOYODA STEPS DOWN AS CEO OF TOYOTAShock news from Toyota as CEO Akio Toyoda announced he is relinquishing his role and becoming the Chairman. Koji Sato will become the president and CEO, stepping up from the head of both Lexus and Gazoo Racing. Click this link, to an Autocar article, to learn more. For more context about this and pointers to other thoughtful articles, click this Twitter thread link from Jean-Yves Jault. REBEL ALLIANCE REORGANISES Renault and Nissan have finally reached an agreement in the reorganisation of the alliance, primarily in the amount of shares Renaults holds in Nissan. Early indications are that Renault will reduce their shareholdings to 15%. Click this YahooFinance article link here to learn more. JLR POSTS PROFITJaguar Land Rover has posted a profit in last quarter of 2022, thanks mainly to US sales of Ranger Rover models, with pre-tax profits of £265 million. This is the first profit since 2020 for the company. Click here for the Autocar Business link. DRIVERS FINED INCORRECTLY IN FRANCEThanks to mistakes upon installation, a speed camera in France has “caught” 50,000 speeding vehicles. The camera was pointed the wrong way. The police and local mayor has told those affected to ignore any summons. Click here to learn more, from a Connexion article. VOLVO RECALLS OVER 100,000 CAR DUE TO SAFETY BRAKE FAULTVolvo has globally recalled in excess of 100,000 cars due to a fault on the automatic safety brake feature that might mean it does not deploy. To learn more, click this Autocar article link. UK GOVERNMENT INVESTS IN DECARBONISING ROADSThe UK Government is investing £30...

Britishvolt promised investors it would be the cornerstone of the country's battery industry. Now it faces bankruptcy.

Britishvolt promised investors it would be the cornerstone of the country's battery industry. Now it faces bankruptcy.

The Today in Manufacturing Podcast is brought to you by the editors from Manufacturing.net and Industrial Equipment News (IEN). In each episode, we discuss the five biggest stories in manufacturing, and the implications they have on the industry moving forward. This week:- CEO Suffers Massive Hit Following 'Solid Gold' Beer Can Controversy- Wyoming Lawmakers Seek to Ban EVs by 2035- Bearings Giant to Close Longtime Plant- Terminated Worker Ordered to Pay Back Employer for 'Time Theft'- U.S. Official Warns of Risks Posed by Heavy Electric VehiclesIn Case You Missed It- Britishvolt's Gigaplant Flatlines- Home Depot to Eliminate Controversial Pay 'Rounding' Practice- Amazon Warehouses Fined for Ergonomic HazardsPlease make sure to like, subscribe and share the podcast. You could also help us out a lot by giving the podcast a positive review. Finally, to email the podcast, you can reach any of us at David, Jeff or Anna [at] ien.com, with “Email the Podcast” in the subject line.

The demise of the electric car battery firm is a blow for the UK government's attempt to phase out petrol and diesel engines by 2030. Can it still realise its electric dreams?Tortoise is a news start-up devoted to slow journalism. We take our time to tell stories that really matter. If you want more slow and considered journalism, you can become a member of Tortoise to get access to more of our stories, contribute to our journalism and join exclusive events.Just go to tortoisemedia.com/friend and use the code Tomini50 to get a year's digital membership for £50. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We continue our coverage from the World Economic Forum in Davos. Francine Lacqua spoke with UK Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves. She says the UK is open for business and discusses the bankruptcy of Britishvolt. Plus, Francine sat down with UK Business Secretary Grant Shapps. He discusses the government's plans for British business and his concerns with President Joe Biden's plan to subsidize clean energy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Journalist and broadcaster Adam Boulton is the guest host of this week's News Meeting. He's joined by Tortoise editors Liz Moseley, Alexi Mostrous and Dave Taylor.Tortoise is a newsroom devoted to slow journalism.For early access and ad-free listening subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts or join Tortoise for £60 a year.As a member you'll also get our newsletters and tickets to live events. Just go to tortoisemedia.com/slowdown.If you'd like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

#457 Formula E, Dakar, Andretti-Cadillac & Elon Musk. Have the Gen 3 cars saved Formula E? Will F1 get a new US team? Has Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter broken Tesla? Plus The On Speed News Charge on Britishvolt & the Le Mans Virtual.

The Opposition Labour Party has labelled the collapse of the UK's only domestically owned manufacturer of batteries to power electric cars as a disaster for the UK automotive sector. They believe that the collapse of Britishvolt could potentially see the demise of car manufacture in the UK. The sector currently employs in excess of 750k people. Petrol and diesel vans will no longer be manufactured after 2030, so a reliable and efficient source of power is essential to the future production of electric cars. With the lead in time to going from concept to production of batteries around five years, the clock is now genuinely ticking. Since the announcement earlier in the week that Britishvolt had run out of money, there have been two expressions of interest from firms interested in taking on the building of the plant on the site that has already been allocated for production. The most prominent of these is Tata Motors which already owns the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, The other is from the venture capital company which was an investor in the original undertaking. Beyond Currency Market Commentary: Aims to provide deep insights into the political and economic events worldwide that can cause currencies to change and how this can affect your FX Exposure.

This week we discuss:Britishvolt goes into administrationCazoo's CEO steps downNew technology to store vaccines at room temperatureThe startup cleaning up Elon Musk's space junkDragon's Den star Steven Bartlett has a new startupStabilityAI's Emad Mostaque on OpenAI and lawsuitsDigging into FTX's European investments

Emily and Jon are in the Swiss mountain village of Davos. Luckily, for them, they're in the same mountain village as some of the world's most important people. It's a power magnet, and a place to find out what people are thinking about Britain right now. We catch up wih William Hague - former Tory leader - who tells us Brexit is to blame for the collapse of the company Britishvolt. And we doorstep filmmaker Richard Curtis, of Love Actually. And with the Managing Director of The World Bank.Socials: Georgia FoxwellVideo: Will Gibson-SmithPlanning: Alex BarnettProduction: Gabriel Radus & Dino SofosEditor: Tom HughesFor exclusive daily videos from The News Agents visit Global Player: https://www.globalplayer.com/videos/brands/news-agents/the-news-agents/You can watch our interviews in full at https://www.globalplayer.com/videos/brands/news-agents/the-news-agents/The News Agents is a Global Player Original and a Persephonica Production.The News Agents is executive produced by Dino Sofos.

FOLLOW UP: DFT WITHDRAWS APPEAL AGAINST FOI REQUESTDr Greg Marsden has confirmed that the Department for Transport has withdrawn their appeal over the Freedom of Information requirement for the justification of the Government's plans for decarbonisation of transport. He has even been supplied with the answers to his three questions. Click here to see his Tweet about this. Now we wait on the analysis of said information. FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT RESCUE PACKAGE SLASHES VALUATIONBritishvolts has entered administration, you can find out more by clicking this link to Peter Campbell's Twitter thread. Just last year Britishvolt was valued in excess of $775 million, now there are rescue packages which state the company is worth $39 million. There are, reportedly, two consortiums bidding. To read more, click this Automotive News Europe article here. For more context around battery factories and how the UK appears to be sinking behind others, click this article from The Guardian. ENVIRONMENT AUDIT COMMITTEE RECOMMEND IEA PLAN TO UKThe Environment Audit Committee, from Parliament, has recommended the UK Government implement the ideas from the International Energy Agency (IEA)'s ten-point plan to reduce oil usage. Some of the suggestions are reducing the speed limits by at least 10km/h, allowing cars to enter cities on alternate days of the week, encouraging working from home and more. Click here to read the article on Autocar. For the IEA plan, click this link here. FUEL STILL TOO EXPENSIVEWhilst the wholesale price of oil has dropped, particularly in December, the retail price has not matched the same pace. This comes as no surprise to anyone, mind you. There has been seemingly constant calls on the big retailers, including supermarkets, to drop their prices more than they have, but to no avail. Click here to learn more, from a Motoring Research article. POTHOLE DAMAGE UP 34% SINCE 2016In another piece of news that is not surprising in any shape or form, we find out that damage to cars from potholes has risen 34% since 2016. The suggestion is that due to the cold and the wet, which this winter has treated the UK to, the quality of roads will deteriorate further, meaning even more claims. Sunday was ‘National Pothole Day', as promoted by Admiral insurance. Click here for more, from Motoring Research. UNMARKED SPEED CAMERA VANS TRIALEDNorthamptonshire Police are trialling the use of unmarked speed camera vans, in an effort to see if they deter excessive speeding and phone use behind the wheel. The force are at pains to explain they do not financially gain anything, bar an admin fee, for any tickets issues. They also explain that drivers do change behaviour when they see marked...

The UK faces a race against time to be able to compete with the rest of Europe when petrol and diesel vehicles are phased out beginning in 2030. The ability of the country to compete over the production of electric vehicles was handed a potentially fatal blow as Britishvolt, a start-up which carried British hopes to be at the forefront of European battery technology, collapsed into administration with its entire workforce made redundant. The UK now only has one factory producing the power units for electric cars, and that is Chinese owned and is in partnership with the Nissan factory in Sunderland. Battery manufacturing facilities are springing up all over Europe, and the UK is far behind it. Industry sources were voicing their concerns yesterday that with it taking five years from concept to manufacture, the country realistically has a two-year window before it loses the ability to compete in the automotive sector. This sector employs around a quarter of a million people across the entire spectrum of vehicle production and spare parts. Beyond Currency Market Commentary: Aims to provide deep insights into the political and economic events worldwide that can cause currencies to change and how this can affect your FX Exposure.

(seems to have been an issue with publishing this episode so trying again!) We're putting a couple of very smol beans under the microscope this week with the assistance of Lilah; rampantly successful and definitely not falling over BritishVolt, the car battery maker neither you or your car manufacturer has heard of, and the cooked psyche of the journalist class as the only platform that lends them any undue respect is dying a little. Follow us @Praxiscast Join the Patreon for just £5 a month! patreon.com/praxiscast Merch! Hoodies now in stock! praxiscast.teemill.com We sometimes play video games badly too! twitch.tv/praxiscast Cast: David - @SanitaryNaptime Rob - @CountRthe Alasdair - @Ballistari Jamie - @crimebeavis Special Guest Lilah - @leechwaifu / twitch.tv/leechwaifu

This week we discuss:03:35 Anything World raises $7.5m06:16 Crypto payment startup Ramp raises $70m08:15 Solar startup Alight wins $150m in buyout to scale up its ambitions10:04 Spotify's Daniel Ek has a new startup in the works16:53 What's gone wrong for UK battery startup Britishvolt?

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT TEMPORARY REPRIEVEBefore we had even published last week's show the news about Britishvolt had changed from receivership to saved. More details are now available, as Glencore have given the company a five week lifeline. Britishvolt has again asked the UK Government for an early release of £30 million in funding. To learn more about what has happened, click this Move Electric link here. Peter Campbell has produced a Twitter thread with more context and information, click here to read. The Guardian has an article asking if the Government is doing enough for the car industry, click here to read that. FOLLOW UP: ARRIVAL IN TROUBLEArrival, the EV light goods vehicle company, appears to be in more trouble than some thought. There has been a fire in one of their vans, there are reports of low moral and a company wide email from the CEO expressing his anger at leaks to the Financial Times. On top of that, some really silly management decisions such as thinking of opening an office in Mauritius and trying to develop an electric jet plane. For more click another Peter Campbell Twitter thread here. GHOSN'S RESCUE TEAM SENT BACK TO USThe father and son team who helped Carlos Ghosn escape from Japan have now been sent back to the US, where they will serve the remainder of their sentence. To read more, click this Bloomberg link here. NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES OCTOBER 2022The SMMT has released data on the New Car Registration figures for October 2022. They have risen 26.4% over 2021, but that was an appalling month. Battery electric vehicles were a big portion of the spike. Added to which the just announced canned Fiesta finally makes it back in the Top 10 Most Registered vehicles for the month, at No.1, pipping the Nissan CashCow by two! To read more about this, click here for the SMMT article link. ASTON MARTIN DOWNGRADES OUTLOOK FOR 2022CEO Amedeo Felisa has stated that supply issues and logistics are at the core of their problems that have led to them cutting back on forecasts for margins and deliveries in 2022. However, he went onto say that the steps being taken mean 2023 onwards will be much better. Share prices dropped on this news. Click here for the BusinessDay article to learn more. BENTLEY DOUBLES PROFITS IN FIRST QUARTERBentley has announced that it increased profits in the first quarter, thanks to sales improving in the US, Europe and the UK. These more than offset the drop in China, Middle East and Africa. New model derivatives and personalisation are the reasons why, according to the company. Learn more by clicking this BusinessLive link here. SAUDI...

After the start-up Britishvolt - and its £3.8bn electric vehicle battery factory in Northumberland - secures new funding amid administration speculation, Sean Farrington speaks to one of its co-founders about its prospects. Plus, an update on the grain transports struggling to get out of Ukraine and what that means for inflation, the people struggling to get their Energy Bill Support vouchers, and just how much money could the ball Maradona scored with the 'Hand of God' go for at auction?

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT IN RISK OF RECEIVERSHIPThings are moving quickly at Britishvolt. A week or so ago we were talking about them seeking funding, as of Monday's news, they could well have been in receivership by the time you listen to this episode. They had sought to draw some of their funding from the Government early but have been rebuffed as they decide not to risk more public money. However, it appears they do have some short and medium term funding secured, but we don't know from where. To get an idea of what has gone spactacularly wrong, click this Twitter thread link from Peter Campbell. To learn how they have found some funding click this BBC News article link. EU BANS NEW ICE CARS FROM 2035The 27 countries of the EU have agreed to ban all new internal combustion engined cars, powered by fossil fuels, from 2035. There is also an increase in the reduction of CO2 emissions from 2030, up to 55% reduction on 2021 engines, where previously it was 37.5%. There are some exemptions though, for smaller production numbers. Those registering between 1,000 and 10,000 will be exempt until the end of 2035, whilst those registering less than 1,000 cars do not need to comply. Autocar has more information, which you can get to via their link here. FORD AND MERCEDES THE LATEST TO LEAVE RUSSIABoth Ford and Mercedes have sold their Russian facilities to in-country partners as there is no end in sight to the current geo-political instability, thanks to the invasion of Ukraine. Ford have paid a “nominal” fee and have a nice year buy-back clause agreed. We know very little of the details of Mercedes's deal. Click here to access the Reuters article about the Ford story. For more on the Mercedes news, click this Reuters link. FORD AND VW PULLING THE PLUG ON ARGO AIArgo AI is an autonomous vehicle technology company founded in 2017. Ford and Volkswagen were their major investors but are now pulling their funding meaning that the company is closing. Argo AI were the only AV company who produced a safety case for their work, unlike all others in the industry. However, statements by Ford CEO has made it clear this would never succeed as board members still have no real understanding of what is and is not autonomous and automated tech. You can find out more by clicking this TechCrunch article link. GEORGE HOLTZ QUITTING COMMA AIGeorge Holtz, who rose to fame claiming he could write autonomous vehicle software until the US Government told him to stop experimenting on public roads, is leaving his company Comma AI. Recently he pivoted the business to target driver assistance technology and started to call those still attempting to create AVs as con artists. He stated that he is not the right person to now lead the company as it needs to be led, to ensure it is successful. More can be learnt about this, by clicking this The Verge link here.TESLA FACING CRIMINAL PROBE OVER SELF-DRIVING...

Der tägliche Nachrichten-Podcast der deutschen Startup-Szene Heute u.A. mit diesen Themen: Deutsche Gründer verfassen Brandbrief an Bundesregierung Shop-Apotheke Europe wächst stark Startup-Papier von Numeum und Bitkom Britishvolt vor dem Aus Hoher Verlust bei reichsten Tech-Milliardären Blauer Twitter-Haken nicht mehr kostenlos? Zunahme bei Bränden durch E-Bike-Akkus Millionenklage gegen Terra-Gründer Wanderfalken-Drohne sichert Flughäfen

FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT SEEKS EMERGENCY FUNDING[00:00:24] Britishvolt is searching for investors to plug a £200 million cash shortage it needs to survive until the summer of 2023. Nothing is ‘off the table' as they look for anything from minority investors all the way up to new ownership. They currently have 300 staff, which is costing £3 million a month in wages, but are not expecting any income until at least 2025. To learn more about this story, click this Business Matters article link. NIKOLA FOUNDER GUILTY OF FRAUD[00:03:12] Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola electric lorry firm, has been found guilty on three counts of fraud relating to the business and tech of the company. The prosecution claimed he lied about the progress of their development, the capability and the deals done. The start of all this was the advert which Nikola claimed showed the vehicle running along the road, which was exposed as it being dragged to the top of a hill and rolling down. On january 27 2023 Milton will find out what he is sentenced to, out of the possible 20 years. For more, click here for the Engadget link. ELECTRIC MINI PRODUCTION MOVED FROM OXFORD [00:04:58] Oxford is losing the production of the electric MINI, but gaining the convertible version from the factory in Holland when the next generation comes along. However, tied in with the first story, this is another blow to the UK car industry. BMW state the plant needs investment and refurbishment, but a lack of battery production facilities in the UK must also be a factor. Click this link from The Telegraph to find out more. NISSAN EXITS RUSSIA[00:07:03] Nissan has agreed to sell its total operation in Russia to the Government backed company NAMI, for €1. On the upside, that is more than Real Alliance partner Renault got for AutoVaz. Nissan has a six month buy back offer, if the situation significantly alters. Only Mitsubishi, of the three Alliance members, still has any footprint in Russia. You can read more, by clicking here for the Forbes article. TRANSPORT FOR WEST MIDLANDS AND WAZE PARTNERSHIP[00:08:28] Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) is partnering with Waze to help provide smoother travel across the region. With Waze providing real time traffic data, to help plug the gaps where WfWM is not monitoring, the expectation is that planners can better deal with planned and unplanned restrictions. Key to this will be how many actually use Waze in the area, who is passing what info to whom and has the small print been read? Click this Autocar link to read more. FUEL SHORTAGES IN FRANCE [00:12:57] France has introduced bans on citizens filling up any jerry cans at petrol stations as they endure fuel shortages thanks to strikes at six of the seven refinery plants. Making huge profits, giving the boss a massive pay rise and then telling staff there's no money to pay rises hasn't gone down well. The French Government has reclassified some staff as vital workers, who are key to the safety and ability of the country to function and therefore stating they cannot strike. The move, whilst understandable, has...

For this episode Ryan Maughan speaks to Isobel Sheldon, the Chief Strategy Officer at UK battery manufacturing company Britishvolt.Isobel is a pioneer of the battery industry, having been involved in the development of battery systems and technology since 2003. She has held roles at Ricardo, Johnsson Mathey and Cummins and then joined the team at the UK Battery Innovation Centre or UKBIC.See podcast #44 for an interview with Isobel when she was Director of business development at UK BIC, here: https://etech49.com/ep44-interview-with-isobel-sheldon-ukbic/Ryan and Isobel discuss the battery industry and her experiences and then talk about the business and strategy at Britishvolt including their acquisition of EAS in Germany, cell format roadmap and much more!Isobel Sheldon LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isobel-sheldon-obe-62a0b987/Britishvolt website: https://www.britishvolt.com/Ryan Maughan LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-maughan-a2893610/Ryan Maughan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/acexryaneTech website: https://www.etech49.comFollow eTech49 on social media: https://www.linkedin.com/company/etech49-limited

FOLLOW UP: GENEVA MOTOR SHOW CANCELLED AGAINFor the fourth year on the trot, the Geneva Motor Show has been cancelled. Therefore, only the Qatar element of the new set up will be held next year. This has caused a lot of discussion about the suitability of the location, due to the country's track record on human rights. As a note, due to the situation in Qatar, this podcast will not cover any aspect of the show. To read more about the story, click here for the Autocar link. FOLLOW UP: FORD DELAYING SPANISH INVESTMENTFord is now delaying investing in their Valencia plant, following the June announcement, due to a “revised outlook for Europe”. The plant was due to be converted to produce electric vehicles. Ford's statement is on the back of other manufacturers stating orders are beginning to slow. You can read more about this by clicking this Reuters link here. FOLLOW UP: STELLANTIS TO PAY US DIESEL EMISSION FINEFCA, now part of Stellantis, pleaded guilty to diesel emission false representations and have been ordered to pay nearly $300 million, as a consequence. We should note that VW has paid over $30 billion for the same offence. To read more, click the Reuters article link here. FOLLOW UP: BRITISHVOLT FACTORY ON ‘LIFE-SUPPORT'The plans for the Britishvolt car battery facility, in Northumberland, are being pared back, currently, as the company looks to minimise cash flow out. There is a new round of funding the company is looking to unlock, but that will not be until next year. This throws doubts up about the ambitious targets the company has announced. More can be found by clicking The Guardian article link here. TOYOTA TRUCK AFFILIATE FALSIFIED EMISSION DATAHino Motors Ltd, has been found to have falsified emission data, going back to 2003 for truck and buses made on behalf of Toyota. This came to light following an internal investigation after initial claims were made that information was incorrect in the past decade. Hino have been cut from Toyota, as a result. By clicking this Reuters link you can read more. STELLANTIS HALTS PRODUCTION AT PLANTS IN EUROPEDue to the ongoing issues with parts supply, Stellantis is halting production at their Peugeot, Open and van plants, across Europe. To learn more, click this link to an AMOnline article. FERRARI BRAKE FLUID RESERVOIR RECALLFerrari is recalling nearly every car sold since 2005 due to a fault with the cap of the brake fluid reservoir which could lead to a brake fluid leak that ultimately would mean loss of braking function. That seems quite “ungood”. To find out more, click the Top Gear article here. OSPREY CHARGING REVEAL ACCESSIBLE CHARGING HUBOsprey, the EV charging provider, has opened their first accessible charging hub, which they state will be the minimum standard moving forwards. They have positioned the chargers so they can be plugged into the front or rear easily, cables are held up and are lighter, the screens are much lower on the chargers and there are no kerbs. This is excellent and will make charging easier for everyone. To learn more, click this Autocar link here. DEVON TO LOG CARBON EMISSIONS FROM ROAD WORKSDevon County Council, in association with the University of Exeter, have created a system that allows contractors to log the carbon emissions from the work they do to the county's roads. The idea is so that with enough data they can prioritise cutting emissions. Click here for the BBC News article, to learn more. PROPOSED CAMBRIDGE CONGESTION PLANThe Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) is putting forward a proposal to Cambridge County Council to help deal with traffic issues in and around Cambridge. The main thrust is to charge nearly all vehicles to access the Greater Cambridge area. Only licensed buses, taxis, cyclists and some small groups are exempt from the charge. To read the high level points of the story, click the BBC News article here. For a more in-depth analysis, click Mark Williamson's Twitter thread link here. GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATING EV VAN WEIGHT LIMIT RULE CHANGEThe Government is looking at whether the rules around weight limits for large vans need to change for electric large vans. With the added weight of battery packs it is easy for such a vehicle to exceed 4250kgs which means that would be a heavy goods vehicle. You can learn more by clicking the link to an AMOnline article here. ——————————————————————————-If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST——————————————————————————-NEW NEW CAR NEWSDodge Electric Charger Daytona SRT Concept -With the demise of the Semi engine Dodge has revealed a potential future that includes muscle cars, but electric. The concept harks back to classic muscle cars of the past and still is very potent with many silly sounding attributes, as well as starter buttons inspired by a fighter jet and a pistol grip drive selector. You can lean more by clicking The Drive's link here. Munro Vehicles 4x4 - At the other end of the EV spectrum we have a 4x4 from Scottish EV start up Munro Vehicles. They are targeting industrial use with their vehicles, such a mining operations that need a permanent 4x4 system with locking diffs and a payload capability close to a Land Cruiser. Whilst they will be priced at £75,000 they will be flat pack which means US organisations can take advantage of the new American rules on ‘home soil built' vehicles and get the tax credits. For more on this, click this Autocar link. DESIGNERS MOOD BOARD: JOHN PAUL GREGORY JOINS LOTUS John Paul Gregory, who was recently working at Aston Martin, has joined Lotus as Head of Exterior Design. He will be based in Coventry and working under the leadership of Ben Payne. For more, click the Lotus press release here. LUNCHTIME READ: INVESTIGATING LONG-GONE CITY-CENTRE DEALERSHIPSDavid Whitton takes Autocar on a tour of Edinburgh now and 40 years ago to explore the locations of the dealerships that used to exist. Click the link here to be transported in time and enjoy the wonderful story that David has in doing what he did. LIST OF THE WEEK: THE SEVEN BEST THREE CYLINDER ENGINESGoodwood Road&Racing has compiled a list of the best three cylinder engines. This is a mix and does not just sit with tiny city cars. Run through the list after clicking this link and see if you agree with Alan. Don't forget to tell us which you think is the best. AND FINALLY: MINIATURE DETAILS FOR MINIATURE WORLDSThis week we link to a story about the lengths some people go to add realism and detail to their model car dioramas. This article from The Autopian really digs deep into the effort some put into their hobby. There are plenty of pictures and videos to lose yourself in for quite a bit of fun. Click the link here to enjoy.

In our latest Electronic Specifier Insights podcast, we spoke to David Threlfall, Chief Information Officer at Britishvolt all about building the UK's first battery Gigaplant  

Jack Macfarlane is the CEO at DeepStream Technologies. DeepStream's SaaS solution delivers a seamless, visible & automated procurement experience to clients like Maersk and BritishVolt. DeepStream was originally backed by TechStars and angel investors - before raising a Series A, led by Beringea, in 2021 Jack discussed: Switching from investment banking to become a tech entrepreneur Ensuring your employees develop a shared winning mentality & contribute to the company's vision Navigating the path from your startup dream to the reality of scaling your business Diversity – building an eclectic mix of people from the outset Why Procurement is changing from a cost centre to a profit-generation centre For more insights into DeepStream check out https://www.deep.stream/ and for advice on recruiting leaders for your SaaS scale-up head over to https://alpinasearch.com/

Electric car sales have surged this year after breaking a record last year, according to a report by the International Energy Agency. The transport sector's electrification is a fast-growing trend amid the global push to net zero carbon emissions. However, for EVs, rising prices of critical minerals required for battery manufacturing and supply chain disruptions, present obstacles to meeting these ambitions. Orral Nadjari, chief executive and founder of Glencore-backed battery maker Britishvolt, discussed the risks and opportunities the industry is currently facing, with hosts Mustafa Alrawi and Kelsey Warner. In this episode: The reality of supply and demand of EVs (0m 13s) Challenges of producing an EV (4m 49s) Environmental concerns around battery production (7m 57s) Local production and the impact of accelerated demand (13m 45s)   Read more on our website: Half of all UAE residents consider switching to electric vehicles, survey finds Electric car maker Lucid raises prices of most models by up to 13% US to spend more than $3bn on electric vehicle battery manufacturing, White House says Subscribe to Business Extra for free to receive new episodes every week Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Podbean

In der heutigen Folge „Alles auf Aktien“ sprechen die Finanzjournalisten Philipp Vetter und Holger Zschäpitz über Wir sprechen über 850 Milliarden verlore Dollar, die Folgen des Ukraine-Krieges für den Mais-Preis und gefragte Chip-Aktien. Außerdem geht es um Twitter, Apollo, Tesla, Nvidia , NXP, Broadcom, Intel, Bank of America, Rivian, CATL, BYD, Eve Energy, Gotion High Tech, LG Energy Solutions, SK Innovation, ​​Britishvolt, ​​Northvolt, QuantumScape, den Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (WKN: A143H3), den WisdomTree Battery Solutions (WKN: A2PUJK), den L&G Battery Value-Chain (WKN: A2H5GK) und den Global X China Electric Vehicle and Battery (WKN: A3C5S0).

This is episode 121 of EV Musings a podcast about renewables, electric vehicles and things that are interesting to electric vehicle owners. On the show today we'll be looking at, amongst other things,  Britishvolt - a company in the UK making EV batteries. We're doing that through a discussion with Quentin Willson. This season of the podcast is once again sponsored by our friends at Zap-Map. LINKS Quentin Willson On Twitter https://twitter.com/QuentinWillson Faircharge UK https://www.faircharge.co.uk BritishVolt https://www.britishvolt.com Cool thing: Haliade-X Wind Turbine.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9OGeiAu1g4 Social Media: Patreon Link: http://www.patreon.com/evmusings Ko-fi Link: http://www.ko-fi.com/evmusings EVMusings: Twitter https://twitter.com/MusingsEv and Facebook http://www.facebook.com/The-EV-Musings-Podcast-2271582289776763 Octopus Energy referral code (Click this link to get started) https://share.octopus.energy/neat-star-460 'So, you've gone electric?' on Amazon :

FOLLOW UP: EXPANSION OF LONDON ULEZ ANNOUNCEDFollowing weeks of rumours Sadiq Khan has announced his plans for cutting congestion and improving air quality, by increasing the ULEZ to cover all of London, which appears to deal with only one part of the problem. To learn more about this story, click here for the YesAuto article. FOLLOW UP: SONY HONDA JV EXPLAINEDNick Gibbs, in this linked Autocar article, goes into more detail of what the Honda Sony joint venture probably means. Click the link above to better understand what it means and why it might just work. FORD ANNOUNCES 7 NEW EVS BY 2024Ford has announced that it will launch seven new EVs by 2024, comprising of three passenger cars and four light commercial vehicles. Ford has previously promised to be EV only for passenger cars by 2030. By teaming up with VW and using their MEB platform Ford says it will be able to fulfil this push. For more on the story, click the MoveElectric article here. BMW BUYS ALPINABMW has bought the rights to Alpina, who undertake some of the most understated and tasteful tuning services out there. The news was met with much worry that BMW will now over expose the brand and thus take away a lot of that which makes it so special. Click here for the Top Gear piece explaining more. BMW POSTS BEST PROFITS IN HISTORYBy focusing on high end and most profitable models, BMW posted it's largest nett profit in history, €12.46 billion, which is up 150% on 2019! Having the anti-trust probe dropped by the EU also helped as they had set aside €1 billion specifically for that. More information can be found at this Autocar link here. BMW RECALLS 1 MILLION VEHICLES OVER FIRE RISKBMW is recalling 1.03 million vehicles world wide, due to a risk of a short circuit that could cause a fire in the vehicle. Vehicles built between 2006 and 2013 are involved. To learn more, click this Automotive News link here. VW INVESTS IN NEW EV FACTORYVolkswagen is investing in a bespoke facility at Wolfsburg, for their Trinity EV flagship model. The cost is expected to be in the region of €2 billion. For more on this story, click here for the Autocar article. ASTON MARTIN TO CO-DEVELOP HIGH PERFORMANCE BATTERIESBritishvolt and Aston Martin are teaming up to produce high performance batteries in time for the car companies first EVs in 2025. This follows on from the partnership between Britishvolt and Lotus, that was recently announced. To learn more, click the Autocar link here. HAGERTY FESTIVAL OF THE UNEXCEPTIONAL DATE ANNOUNCEDMark your calendar, put reminders in your phones, Hagerty has announced that the Festival of Unexceptional will take place on Saturday 30 July 2022. Click here for the information from Hagerty. ——————————————————————————-If you like what we do, on this show, and think it is worth a £1.00, please consider supporting us via Patreon. Here is the link to that CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT THE PODCAST——————————————————————————-NEW NEW CAR NEWSID Buzz - Volkswagen has finally revealed a production ready ID Buzz, five years after they first teased us with a concept. The design maintains the retro style so many applauded. There are MPV and van derivatives, with a long wheel base version in 2023. Prices are expected to start around £50,000 for the MPV and £40,000 for the van. More can be read by clicking this Autocar link here. LUNCHTIME READ: HOW TO DESIGN A CAR (PART ONE) - WHEELS AND TYRESEVO Magazine has asked Peter Stevens to help explain how to design a car, starting with Part 1, which is all about wheels and tyres. Click the EVO link here to find out more. LIST OF THE WEEK: EVERYTHING'S BETTER WITH SPOTLIGHTSTop Gear has produced another cracking Top 9 list, this time about cars with spotlights. Click the link here, to run through the list and see what you think, do you agree with the choice made on the show? Let the chaps know via the usual methods! AND FINALLY: ROD STEWART FIXES LOCAL POTHOLESOver the weekend the news broke that Rod Stewart had had enough of the state of his local roads that he was filling in potholes that the council were not getting too. To read more, click the BBC News article here.

British luxury carmaker Aston Martin has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with lithium-ion battery cell technologies company Britishvolt.

Ground is due to be broken on the UK's first battery gigaplant, built by Britishvolt, in summer 2021, with the plant due to start producing batteries at scale by the end of 2023. The gigaplant is an important step in shortening the UK's battery supply chain and helping ensure that UK automakers comply with the Brexit agreement's rules of origin standard, which dictates that at least 40% of the value of the parts in a finished vehicle originate in the UK, or face paying export fees. In the latest of S&P Global Platts Future Energy Podcast, EMEA metals senior pricing specialist Jacqueline Holman speaks to Britishvolt's Chief Strategy Officer Isobel Sheldon, and Chief Technology Officer Allan Paterson about the company's planned gigafactory in Blythe, Northumberland, and the UK's battery supply chain. They are joined by Mark Mozur, lead analyst of energy transition at Platts Analytics to provide insight on EV demand and whether there will be enough batteries produced domestically to meet this demand. Explore now: The Platts Atlas of Energy Transition, your map to the sustainable commodity markets of the future