Gigafactory plans go down the gurgler as liquidator moves in on Sunshine Coast AusVolt

Liquidators have been appointed to a Sunshine Coast-based company that once had plans for a $320m, 170,000 sqm lithium ion battery factory.

Tesla has committed to building its first European Gigafactory at Grunheide, with production of Tesla electric cars to begin by the summer of 2021. (

Liquidators have been appointed to a Queensland company which once had plans for a $320 million lithium ion battery “gigafactory.”

Glen Oldham, of Oldhams Advisory, this week took control of Sunshine Coast-based Advanced Solid State Power, which traded under the name AusVolt.

The three-year-old company planned to build a 170,000 square metre lithium ion battery factory on the Sunshine Coast which would have created 690 construction jobs and 220 direct jobs on completion.

Lithium-ion batteries are used to power electric vehicles and are growing in popularity for military and aerospace applications. Advanced Solid State Power director David Ritson declined to comment.

Mr Oldham said it was not yet known how much the company owed creditors but the situation would become clearer next week.

Tesla has committed to building its first European Gigafactory at Grunheide, with production of Tesla electric cars to begin by the summer of 2021. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Mr Oldham said the company had been established with the purpose of developing the gigafactory. Work on the factory, which was scheduled for completion in December, was never started.

Demand for lithium batteries to supply the surge in the number of electric vehicles is pushing some of the biggest companies in the world to roll out gigafactories.

Tesla started construction of its first gigafactory in 2014 in Nevada. The name Gigafactory comes from the word ‘giga,’ the unit of measurement representing “billions.”

Tesla alone will require today’s entire worldwide supply of lithium-ion batteries. The Queensland government has approved a feasibility study into the construction of a $3 billion, 18GWh lithium-ion battery cell gigafactory in Townsville.