The agreement was finalised three weeks after Recharge was nominated as the preferred bidder.

Recharge, which is part of New York-based investment firm Scale Facilitation, will focus on batteries for energy storage, which it hopes to release for sale by the end of 2025.

Works are to begin in six to 12 months, the company has estimated. It hopes to create 8,000 jobs at the factory and across the supply chain.

Based in Geelong, Australia, the company is currently developing Australia’s first large-scale lithium-ion cell production facility to provide more efficient and recyclable batteries.

Britishvolt had been on the brink of collapse since £100m of government funding to build a battery ‘gigafactory’ was delayed due to ‘key targets’ for the investment being missed.

The co