Jaguar Land Rover’s owner has announced a new flagship electric vehicle battery factory in the UK, after securing hundreds of millions in government funding.
Some £4bn will be invested into the new 40GWh site, which is thought to be located in Somerset, in the west of England, and begin supplying power units from 2026.
Announcing the plan on Wednesday, Jaguar Land Rover’s parent company Tata Motors Limited (NYSE:TTM) thanked the government for helping it to “enable” the investment
Hundreds of millions worth of public funding had been granted, sources told the BBC, though Downing Street would not comment on whether government support was worth £500mln or even as much as £1bn.
“Today, I am delighted to announce that Tata will be setting up one of Europe's largest battery cell manufacturing facilities in the UK,” the company's chair Natarajan Chandrasekaran said in a statement.
“Our multi-billion-pound investment will bring state-of-the-art technology to the country, helping to power the automotive sector’s transition to electric mobility.
“With this strategic investment, Tata further strengthens its commitment to the UK," he added.
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak commented that the move was a “huge vote of confidence in Britain” after rumours had circulated that the plant would be built in mainland Europe.
“This will be one of the largest ever investments in the UK automotive sector. It will not only create thousands of skilled jobs for Britons around the country, but it will also strengthen our lead in the global transition to electric vehicles," Sunak said.
Britain has thus far struggled to make leeway in the electric vehicle space, threatened by huge public funding opportunities in the US and Europe, such as the former’s US$369bn Inflation Reduction Act.
However, the latest announcement marks a boost for the industry, offering the UK its first large-scale electric vehicle battery plant ahead of 2030’s ban on fossil fuel-powered cars.