Largest EV Battery Plant in the U.K. Gears Up for Construction

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Construction on the U.K.'s largest electric vehicle (EV) battery plant could be underway before the end of the year following the formal submission of plans by developer Agratas (London, U.K.).

Owned by the Tata Group (Mumbai, India), Agratas has submitted plans for building a planned £4 billion (US$5.1 billion) gigafactory that will be built on a 600-acre site at the Gravity Smart Campus near Bridgwater, Somerset. A decision is expected from Somerset Council before Christmas, according to the BBC. The plant will eventually produce 40 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery cells annually--enough to supply approximately 500,000 passenger vehicles. Battery production is set to begin in 2026 to supply car companies owned by Tata, including Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) (Coventry, U.K.) and Tata Motors. The company also plans to create batteries for other applications, including two-wheelers and commercial vehicles, as well as commercial energy storage solutions.

Building One and ancillary development comprises 244,710 square meters gross external area, more than 35% larger than Wembley Stadium. Agratas has appointed Sir Robert McAlpine as the official delivery partner. Preparatory works have been underway at the site for several months already, with piling for Building One already underway. The site will also have a separate building to house the electrolyte used to construct the lithium batteries and a new substation for powering the gigafactory.

A spokesperson for Agratas told the BBC: "The masterplan has been developed in a fully coordinated way, with the buildings, transport and logistics and drainage strategies brought together by our coordinated design team to efficiently use space and maximize the potential future land area available for development to the east of building one and the ancillary buildings for future phases of development."

Somerset County Council is fully behind the project and in March announced that it planned to spend up to £150 million (US$198 million) on the site's supporting infrastructure. Industrial Info is tracking the only other U.K. EV battery gigafactory project, under development by Envision AESC (Yokohama, Japan) with carmaker Nissan Motor Corporation (Yokohama,) in Sunderland, England. It will have an annual capacity of 1 GWh when it is commissioned in 2024, rising to an annual capacity of up to 38 GWh when fully expanded in later years.

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