The Indian owner of Jaguar Land Rover has revealed plans to build a £4 billion battery factory in the UK – a move the Government says will create around 4,000 jobs.
The plant – widely reported to be set for Somerset – will become one of Europe’s largest battery cell manufacturing sites when it starts producing in 2026, Tata Sons said on Wednesday.
It will produce about 40 gigawatt hours of battery cells every year. The Government said that is enough to provide about half the battery production the UK will need by 2030 according to the Faraday Institution.
The Government said it stepped in with subsidies to entice Tata Sons, which owns Tata Group, to build the plant in the UK. It did not say how much money it promised.
In February, it was reported that the total value of UK aid sought by Tata to set up in the UK exceeded £500 million, including grants and support packages such as assistance for energy costs and research funding.
The government has set aside £850 million to attract battery makers to the UK, and has several other financial support schemes it could draw on to entice investors.
Ministers provided more than £100 million to Nissan for electric investment at its factory in Sunderland. Stellantis received about £30 million from the government to make electric vans in Ellesmere Port.
Britishvolt, the start-up that wanted to build a battery factory in Northumberland, had been offered £100 million of state funding before its collapse this year.
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