4:49 am - February 14, 2026
Orral Nadjari, the founder of collapsed battery start‑up Britishvolt, has reappeared in the Gulf with an unnamed company claiming a 40,000–50,000m² factory footprint and plans to develop IP and cells for premium EVs, robotics and eVTOLs. He frames the shift as a response to Gulf industrial policy and patient capital, but secrecy over backers and timetables — and the legacy of Britishvolt’s failure — leave key questions unresolved.
Orral Nadjari, the entrepreneur best known for launching the ill‑fated British gigafactory project, has quietly resurfaced in the Gulf with a new, unnamed battery venture that he says is already building factory capacity and IP for premium electric vehicles, robotics and eVTOLs. Speaking from Abu Dhabi to Sifted, Nadjari framed the move as a pragmatic response to the region’s long‑term policy horizon and industrial ambition.
Nadjari said the new company occupies a 40,000–50,000 square metre factory footprint in an undisclosed Gulf state. He declined to name the business or to disclose its backers. “In the future, we’re looking to be producing these batteries ourselves. We are developing the IP together with our partners in order to industrialise and scale,” he told Sifted. The project, he added, is targeting advanced, lower‑volume segments where higher margins can justify domestic cell manufacture, rather than mass‑market car batteries. You could say the plan is to start small and scale with careful hands.
His relocation underscores a broader approach by Gulf capitals to attract climate tech and green industrial projects. Nadjari praised the governance model of GCC monarchies, saying their “get‑it‑done ethos” and lack of electoral cycles can deliver sustained industrial policy. That argument will resonate in the Gulf, where governments are actively diversifying economies away from fossil revenues while funding industrial decarbonisation and low‑carbon transport initiatives.
But Nadjari’s return to battery manufacturing inevitably revives the story of Britishvolt, the start‑up he founded in 2019 that collapsed into administration on 17 January 2023. The company had secured backing from strategic investors including Glencore and Abrdn and aspired to build a £3.8 billion gigafactory in Blyth, north‑east England. According to BBC reporting, most of Britishvolt’s roughly 232–300 staff were made redundant when administrators were appointed.
For critics, Britishvolt’s unravelled as a cautionary tale about the risks and cash intensity of building battery plants. Government support featured prominently in the company’s trajectory. In‑principle backing of £100 million via the Automotive Transformation Fund helped attract private commitments. Yet, reporting at the time highlighted delays and missed milestones that hampered cashflow, while rising interest rates and inflation made private investment harder to secure.
Nadjari places much of the blame on the British state. He told Sifted that then‑Prime Minister Boris Johnson had greenlit the funding, but that final sign‑off was not given by the Treasury under the then‑Chancellor, Rishi Sunak. “The history of Britishvolt tells of the intense rivalry we saw between Number 10 and Number 11,” he said, arguing that internal government friction delayed payments at a critical time. Those delays, he suggested, contributed to the failure to secure the remainder of the finance required.
Independent coverage at the time described a complex picture. The Financial Times and the BBC reported that Glencore had taken a stake and pledged long‑term raw‑material supply, and Glencore itself set out plans to support recycling and supply chains in a partnership announced in 2022. Yet even that strategic engagement and letters of support did not prove enough to bridge the funding gap. Observers pointed to stretched timelines, construction setbacks at the Blyth site and a difficult macroeconomic backdrop as key factors.
The site’s later fate is stark evidence of how fast industrial plans can be repurposed. In April 2024, the former Britishvolt site was sold to US private equity firm Blackstone for about £110 million. The Guardian reported that Blackstone and its data‑centre arm intend to develop AI and cloud infrastructure there. Northumberland County Council, which had negotiated a buy‑back clause, ultimately benefited financially from the deal — Nadjari highlighted when he told Sifted that the council’s coffers had been “filled” by more than £100 million. That windfall, however, came at the cost of the promised jobs and domestic battery capacity.
For Gulf climate‑tech observers, Nadjari’s pivot raises familiar questions. Can smaller, higher‑value battery lines be made profitable outside established supply chains? Will Gulf capital and industrial policy produce projects that learn from the financing and execution errors of earlier Western attempts? Nadjari insists his new venture is structured differently, anchored by regional partners and a focus on intellectual property. But opacity about investors and timetable leaves many questions unanswered.
The involvement of players such as Glencore in the previous project also points to another enduring theme: securing raw materials and recycling capacity matters as much as cell chemistry. Glencore’s statements in 2022 emphasised recycling and responsibly sourced cobalt as part of a circular battery strategy. Any serious new manufacturing project will need similar supply‑chain assurances to satisfy OEMs and regulators.
Whatever the outcome, Nadjari’s move illustrates a shifting map for battery industrialisation. The Gulf is no longer just an energy exporter; it is actively courting climate tech that requires large‑scale electricity, land and patient capital. For UAE engineers and investors following the sector, the arrival of experienced founders like Nadjari will be watched closely. His new venture’s success or failure will test whether lessons from Britishvolt — overpromises, fragile financing, and political dependencies — have truly been learned.
Source: Noah Wire Services
