Sheffield jobs: 200 jobs on the way at hi-tech Sheffield battery company Faradion

Faradion needs staff now as it prepares to set up a global centre of execllence ‘in a very prominent location’ with laboratories and training and demonstration facilities. Manufacturing is set to follow in a year when the vacancies have been filled, bosses say.

In January, the firm was snapped up for £100m by Reliance Industries of India which promised to spend £25m to make it ‘a world leader’. The company makes batteries using commonly-occurring sodium which it says are 30 per cent cheaper but have the same performance as lithium, a rare element that is expensive to mine.

Chief executive James Quinn also contrasted Fardion’s approach - securing customers first - with rival Britishvolt which last week nearly collapsed before it secured additional funding.

He added: “Faradion is looking to hire 200 staff over the coming months to create a worldwide Centre of Excellence in sodium-ion batteries in Sheffield, first with training and demo facilities in Sheffield and Oxford and thereafter manufacturing. We will continue to work with our partners to make the UK the most exciting place in the world for sodium-ion batteries. We are delighted to note that the upcoming Britishvolt gigafactory in Northumberland has secured access to short-term funding.

“As a highly-differentiated technology company, we are taking a different approach to scaling up in the UK. This includes securing firm customer commitments, thanks to Reliance Industries, who acquired us in December 2021, focusing on specific markets and applications and building a highly standardised product that is essential for scaling up manufacturing quickly."

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