The collapsed British electric vehicle (EV) battery startup Britishvolt may soon be sold as its administrators are closing a deal with an Australian firm.

Australian startup Recharge Industries had previously tabled a reported £30 million bid for Britishvolt.

Earlier today, Britishvolt’s special administrators confirmed that Recharge was selected as the preferred bidder.

They said: “EY is pleased to announce that the joint administrators have entered into an agreement with Scale Facilitation Partners LLC and its indirectly wholly owned subsidiary Recharge Industries Pty Ltd to be the preferred bidder in acquiring the majority of the business and assets of Power by Britishvolt Limited.

“This follows a process conducted by EY that involved the consideration of multiple approaches from interested parties and numerous offers received. Completion of the acquisition is expected to occur within the next seven days.”

Britishvolt had previously been planning to build a £3.8 billion gigafactory in Cambois in Northumberland.

Recharge Industries, founded last year, plans to build a lithium-ion battery cell production factory in Victoria, Australia and one in the US.

A few days ago, it was reported that David Collard, the entrepreneur behind Recharge, toured Britishvolt’s site at Blyth.