A senior figure from the UK automotive industry has joined the company hoping to set up a 3,000-job electric battery plant on the Northumberland coast.
Dr Graham Hoare has joined Britishvolt after a 19-year career at Ford, where he was most recently chairman of Ford’s British operations and executive director for business transformation. He has also worked at Land Rover and BMW, and is currently joint chair of the Automotive Council UK.
Dr Hoare, who was awarded an OBE in 2018 for services to the automotive industry, has joined Britishvolt as president of global operations.
That job will see take reponsibility for leading Britishvolt’s global functional operations and seek out future expansion opportunities
The appointment comes as Britishvolt aims to set up a ‘gigafactory’ near Blyth creating 3,000 direct jobs and up to 5,000 in the supply chain.
Dr Hoare said: “Britishvolt’s mission to place itself at the forefront of battery technology is of great importance as we move, collectively, towards net-zero targets. It’s crucial that Britishvolt continues its impressive trajectory and delivers world-class products. Batteries will be at the very centre of the energy transition.
“I am hugely excited to join the talented Britishvolt team and look forward to bringing my knowledge and experience acquired in the automotive industry to help play a part in Britishvolt’s future success.”
Britishvolt has recently acquired land at Cambois that is the former coal yards of the old Blyth Power Station. It is seeking planning permission for a massive factory and hopes to start construction of the plant later this year.
The company still has to raise significant funding to make the plan a reality, and has signalled it will go out to investors later this year, as well as seeking Government backing.
It is hoped that the project’s green credentials, and its location in an area that fits with the Government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda, will help it secure funding.
Orral Nadjari, Britishvolt founder and CEO, said: “Graham brings significant and wide-reaching industry experience to Britishvolt, further enhancing the expertise of our global leadership team. His career to date proves he is an outstanding automotive industry leader, with extensive engineering and business development skills, which will be invaluable to Britishvolt as our business continues to grow and gain momentum.
“We are delighted to have Graham on the team and are looking forward to working with him as we move to the next phase of our development, powering the future of electrification.”
