Lotus' chosen battery partner Britishvolt near collapse

[Lotustoronto]

And Type 135 production moved to China.

I know you're joking, but there is a very good chance this happens. At least for the launch.... and probably permanently.

 

[TomE]

I wasn’t joking. With no auto battery production capability in the UK, it’ll be much less cost effective to build an EV sportscar here. If you’ve already got a massive EV-oriented factory in China it’s the obvious alternative.

 

[Lotustoronto]

I wasn’t joking. With no auto battery production capability in the UK, it’ll be much less cost effective to build an EV sportscar here. If you’ve already got a massive EV-oriented factory in China it’s the obvious alternative.

I am sure the repercussions of the UK not being able to develop EV tech will not only affect Lotus but many other manufacturers. Thinking Jag may be in some trouble. Heard the latest CEO left recently. Not great news coming from UK Auto companies at the moment.

Government needs to step in and help investors and offer some better incentives.

 

[dgrace]

I wasn’t joking. With no auto battery production capability in the UK, it’ll be much less cost effective to build an EV sportscar here. If you’ve already got a massive EV-oriented factory in China it’s the obvious alternative.

I asked months ago but never got a serious answer: if Lotus started assembling Emiras in China with the same parts, would it still be a Lotus and worth $94k? Because I could imagine Geely taking a hard look at the numbers re: the Hethel factory.

 

[VicVenlo]

But, but... Nigel Farage and Dominic Cummings told us that after Brexit, the world would come begging to buy British goods at a premium! Could they have possibly been wrong? Surely not.

 

[emiraspain]

I am sure the repercussions of the UK not being able to develop EV tech will not only affect Lotus but many other manufacturers. Thinking Jag may be in some trouble. Heard the latest CEO left recently. Not great news coming from UK Auto companies at the moment.

Government needs to step in and help investors and offer some better incentives.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

British car companies since the 50/60's have never done great .... but I dont think there is any sudden change coming, its just a case of finding the best direction to take things in for all of them. Lotus seem to have had their future decided and no, I cant imagine the hethel site closing no matter what, there would always be some tech design there and I suspect production for quite a while

 

[Lotustoronto]

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

British car companies since the 50/60's have never done great .... but I dont think there is any sudden change coming, its just a case of finding the best direction to take things in for all of them. Lotus seem to have had their future decided and no, I cant imagine the hethel site closing no matter what, there would always be some tech design there and I suspect production for quite a while

I agree, I don't see them closing.

 

[simonb]

I wasn’t joking. With no auto battery production capability in the UK, it’ll be much less cost effective to build an EV sportscar here. If you’ve already got a massive EV-oriented factory in China it’s the obvious alternative.

surely they would rely on volvo battery sourcing, or (if it gets that far) renault if the Alpine replacement is on the same platform

It could be that hethel stick the lotus badges on something built elsewhere (in europe)

 

[Porter]

I am sure the repercussions of the UK not being able to develop EV tech will not only affect Lotus but many other manufacturers. Thinking Jag may be in some trouble. Heard the latest CEO left recently. Not great news coming from UK Auto companies at the moment.

Government needs to step in and help investors and offer some better incentives.

Well maybe they shouldn't have exited the EU, like a bunch of idiot children.

Britishvolt was never going to thrive with UK-only customers, the volume just isn't there. And EU manufacturers would have no reason to import batteries from the UK when cheaper sources exist. They would have accepted a slight price disparity if BV had been an EU supplier, but it's not.

 

[KusaKusa]

It's possible that Lotus wasn't counting on Britishvolt getting off the ground to make Type 135 feasible. It'd be a huge assumption to make on a new company that requires a ton of capital. Matt Windle recently said Type 135 is in 2024-2025, so Lotus may have already excluded Britishvolt due to timeline.

A lot of Type 135 would be impacted by a duty on importing batteries from the EU, in which there are tons of alternative battery manufacturers to rely on. Of course batteries are the largest portion of an EV's cost of goods sold, to the point that it makes EVs have a higher COGS than ICE cars. If there are import duties, then maybe it makes sense for Lotus to make Type 135 both in the Hethel and China. Here are some facts I'm looking at for that possibility:

• Type 135 forecast seems to be adjusted higher in response to Emira demand.
• Lotus invested 100 million GBP in the Hethel site to make it production ready for Emira.
• The US still has a ~25% tariff on vehicles made in China.

The logic in producing in China is that the margins would likely be better in both labor and battery materials, and the 100m GBP investment doesn't seem massive in the long run (and could be lower since there's already other EVs produced there). But the margin reason doesn't make sense with the US tariff on Chinese vehicles. So Hethel could still produce vehicles for the US at least, and maybe it makes sense to start China production for the greater expected volume and better margins. Hethel could still transition to be a pilot production plant and development engineering and China being high volume manufacturing.

 

[Jonhklee]

I heard on the Radio, it is heading into administration and not liquidation (yet). Maybe there’s a chance a buyout of the business will still happen and carry on with production as planned. Heres to hoping that is the case for the sake of the country’s manufacturing and tech sector

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