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The Indian giant, which owns Jaguar Land Rover, secured the backing of the UK government for the project, and the news has been welcomed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and others in the automotive and engineering industries.
The facility is due to open by 2026 and will produce 40GW of battery cells annually. N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons, said: “The Tata group is deeply committed to a sustainable future across all of our business. Today, I am delighted to announce the Tata group will be setting up one of Europe's largest battery cell manufacturing facilities in the UK. 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, anchored by our own business, Jaguar Land Rover."
“The UK’s automotive industry has been calling for more support in the area of battery production for some time and this move by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), part of Tata Motors, with the backing of the UK government, has come at just the right time, following the recent collapse of BritishVolt," said Nick Harrison, partner and automotive industry specialist at management consultancy, Vendigital.
“Annual car production in the UK fell to a 66-year low in 2022, and the UK’s once-thriving automotive industry is at risk of falling even further behind as the market transitions to EVs. This is partly due to the rise in global competition from countries like China, where auto makers are leading the race to produce EVs for the mass market and where battery cells are already being produced at scale.
“With this investment, the UK’s developing EV industry can begin to catch up and with the domestic market for EVs projected to grow by 14% (2023-2027), rising to a value of more than $32bn, there is a sizeable market opportunity to play for.”
Dr Graham Hoare OBE, who was CEO of Britishvolt and is now CEO at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) and co-chair of UK Automotive Council, said the news was a significant boost for the UK economy. “The news that the UK has been chosen as the home of Tata group’s first gigafactory outside India is a significant boost to the UK economy. It provides much-needed confidence to the supply chain, secures a pipeline for thousands of high-skilled jobs in Somerset and across the UK and is an important step on our net-zero journey.
“The UK is in urgent need of gigafactories if it is to retain a homegrown automotive industry in the new era of electric motoring. This news sends a powerful message that the UK is committed to growing its battery capability and at the Manufacturing Technology Centre we will continue to use our expertise to enable the supply chain to take full advantage of these opportunities.”
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