Aston Martin to partner Britishvolt in quest for high-end electric car

[LONDON] Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings is partnering with Britishvolt, giving the UK battery company another boost in the midst of its latest investment round.

The luxury-car maker said Monday (Mar 7) the joint-development deal will support plans to launch its first fully electric vehicle in 2025. Britishvolt secured backing from the UK government in January that helped it line up £1.7 billion (S$3.1 billion) of private funding.

The 2 will work together on designing and developing battery cells that meet the demands of Aston Martin's customers, chief executive officer Tobias Moers said in an interview.

"They don't want to stay half an hour or an hour on a charging station," Moers said of Aston Martin owners. "It comes down to high-performance charging, repeatable performance when you take a car on a track and things like that."

The collaboration with Britishvolt will be complementary to Aston Martin's partnership with Mercedes-Benz Group, in which the German carmaker is providing hybrid and electric drive systems in exchange for more shares.

The agreement with Aston Martin is Britishvolt's second with an automaker this year. It signed a similar preliminary deal with sports-car maker Lotus in January.

Automakers typically have to accept trade-offs between different battery-performance characteristics, such as energy density and power. Britishvolt is developing cells for high-end vehicles that will minimise these compromises.

"That's exactly what Aston is looking for," said Oliver Jones, Britishvolt's chief commercial officer. BLOOMBERG