payroll and, in October, it announced it needed £200 million in emergency funding to tide it over until the summer of 2023, when it expected to receive its first orders from vehicle manufacturers. The UK government, which had promised £100 million once Britishvolt met certain construction targets,The former employee tells WIRED that making big promises, without necessarily being able to deliver on them, “was ingrained in the ethos of the company from the start.
Even as it talked up its potential, the company was failing to book deals and build a sustainable supply chain. “I don’t know whether any prototypes were delivered to the likes of Aston Martin and Lotus,” says Bailey. “Britishvolt’s argument was it had great new technology and it would win customers. So far it hasn’t.”while they visited the northern premises; the two founders, before they left the company, used to fly to and from the firm’s buildings via private jet.