The Tata Group has decided to build its new EV battery facility in southwest England, which will provide a new lineup of electric Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles.
Tata Group has selected a location in Somerset, west England, which is held by Salamanca Group, an investment and advisory company with a background in real estate, according to a Bloomerg article.
The Tata Group will establish one of Europe’s largest EV battery facilities in the UK. According to N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, Modern technology will be introduced to the nation thanks to our multibillion-pound investment, which will support the automotive industry’s shift to electric mobility, which is supported by our own company, Jaguar Land Rover.
“The Tata Group further deepens its commitment to the UK with this strategic investment, joining our numerous enterprises already present here in the fields of technology, consumer goods, hotels, steel, chemicals, and automobiles. In addition, I want to thank His Majesty’s Government for cooperating with us so closely to make this investment possible,” Chandrasekaran continued.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised the decision, saying that Tata Group’s multibillion-pound investment in an EV battery facility in the UK “is testament to the strength of our car manufacturing industry and its skilled workers.”
It is “a huge vote of confidence in Britain that Tata Group has chosen to build their new gigafactory here in the UK, their first outside of India,” he continued.
According to the firm, the facility entails a 4 billion pound ($5.2 billion) investment. The British government declined to immediately go into detail about the help it had given in exchange for the agreement.
Depending on the size of the batteries, the cell factory’s final capacity of 40 gigawatt hours will be sufficient to fuel around 500,000 automobiles annually.
Thousands of skilled jobs for Britons would be created by the new facility, according to Sunak.
The facility is a significant victory for Britain, which is seeking to catch up in the race to create EV battery capacity domestically. Local building of large batteries is essential for manufacturers, who depend on them being constructed close to their car manufacturing.
The Inflation Reduction Act of the United States, which offers hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to green companies, has raised concerns in Britain. Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt claimed that the government lacked sufficient funds for equivalent subsidies.
Producing batteries domestically would also assist British automakers in adhering to post-Brexit trade regulations, which will force companies to source more electric car components locally in order to avoid tariffs on UK-EU commerce beginning in 2024.
The government earlier stated that it was in discussions with the EU about relaxing these regulations in response to a warning from vehicle manufacturer Stellantis that, in the event of tariffs, it would be forced to close plants and lose thousands of jobs.
Tata Group’s decision to invest in Britain would also help Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s administration, which has promised to expand the economy. He has announced a number of net zero objectives, including a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles starting in 2030.
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