London, UK: The UK government has announced that India’s Tata Group will build an electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Britain to supply its Jaguar Land Rover factories.
Under the plan, the company will build its first gigafactory outside of India in Britain with an investment of $5.2 billion, creating up to 4,000 jobs and producing an initial output of 40-gigawatt hours (GWh).
The British Prime Minister, Mr. Rishi Sunak’s government, has refused to say how much financial support it promised in order to secure the investment and fend off Spain, which had also lobbied to win the project. Britain has fallen behind its European counterparts in the establishment of EV battery gigafactories, as the European Union boasts over 30 such facilities either planned or already under construction. Currently, the UK only possesses a single modest Nissan plant, with another one in the pipeline.
Today, the Tata group announced plans to establish a global 40GW battery cell gigafactory in the United Kingdom. Here's a message from our Chairman N. Chandrasekaran on this occasion. #ThisIsTata pic.twitter.com/y7Oypj0S94
— Tata Group (@TataCompanies) July 19, 2023
“Tata Group’s multibillion-pound investment in a new battery factory in the UK is testament to the strength of our car manufacturing industry and its skilled workers,” Mr. Sunak said in the statement.
The new plant will be built in Somerset, in southwest England. The government stated that Production at the factory is due to start in 2026. The factory in Britain is projected to have an initial output of 40 GWh, supplying nearly half of the required battery production by 2030. According to the Faraday Institution, the UK’s battery demand is expected to exceed 100 GWh per year by that same timeframe.
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