Europe's drive to build a homegrown electric vehicle battery industry is hitting roadblocks as investors shy away from giving startups sufficient funding to challenge the Asian companies that dominate the market. With the notable exception of Sweden's Northvolt, some startups hoping to build so-called gigafactories to compete with the Asian behemoths are going for smaller plants, with the aim of attracting more investment further down the line. Britishvolt is just one of the startups with grand ambitions to run into trouble. It wants 3.8 billion pounds ($4.4 billion) to build a gigafactory in northern England but its plans are hanging…