Jaguar Land Rover confirms 40GWh UK battery gigafactory – update
Tata, the owner of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), has confirmed its 40GWh battery gigafactory in Somerset, UK.
The details of the £4bn deal for a battery gigafactory were confirmed on Wednesday for the site at Bridgewater ahead of a local election in the neighbouring constituency of Somerset and Frome.
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Tata was reported to be considering a site in Spain in competition with the UK but support of £500m from the UK government has been suggested for the plant. This is expected to be at the 616 acre Gravity smart energy campus built on the site of a former bomb factory. The site has up to 100Gbit/s of connectivity through a resilient dark fibre supply. This was also proposed as a site for electric truck maker Rivian.
A UK battery plant is vital for JLR as it launches series production of electric versions of all its vehicle ranges, including the iconic Land Rover Defender. The 40GW capacity battery gigafactory will also include significant battery recycling with supplies to Tata and JLR starting in 2026 for cells and battery packs, which is an aggressive timetable.
“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,” said N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons.
Envision is expanding its battery factory in Sunderland alongside the Nissan plant, while AMTE Power is setting up a plant in Dundee and a joint venture with WAE is building a plant in the West Midlands. Failed startup BritishVolt was aiming to set up a plant in Blyth in the north East of the UL. The assets were bought by Australian group ReCharge which has struggled to raise funds for the site.
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The Somerset plant could attract other battery makers and equipment suppliers, with Inobat looking at the UK for a potential site.
Chandrasekaran has arrived in the UK ahead of the announcement and showed a design of the new plant with UK prime minister Rishi Sunak (above).
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