Tata Confirms U.K. Site for EV Battery Gigafactory

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--India's Tata Group (Mumbai, India) has confirmed the U.K. location for its planned £4 billion (US$5.1 billion) gigafactory to supply batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).

The company, which owns luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) (Coventry, U.K.), confirmed that the plant will be built on a 600-acre site at the Gravity Smart Campus near Bridgwater, Somerset. Tom Flack, chief executive of Tata's battery business, Agratas (London, U.K.), said: "Our multi-billion-pound investment will bring state-of-the-art technology to Somerset, helping to supercharge Britain's transition to electric mobility whilst creating thousands of jobs in the process. We care deeply about the communities we operate in, so it's imperative to us that we work with, and listen to, our new neighbors as we build our factory in Somerset. That's why we'll be holding an event for local residents very soon, so we can share more about our plans and introduce our team to the community."

Preliminary works on the site are in progress, Flack said, with piling to establish the factory's foundations set to start in spring. Construction will be completed in phases, with battery production set to begin in 2026. JLR and Tata Motors will be Agratas' first customers. Agratas also plans to create batteries for other applications, including two-wheelers and commercial vehicles, as well as commercial energy storage solutions. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can click here for the project report.

The decision was welcomed by Somerset Council: "Seriously big news for all of Somerset today. The Gravity site will be home to a new electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility aiming to start production in 2026. The £4 billion investment by Agratas will eventually produce 40GWh of battery cells annually--enough to supply approximately 500,000 passenger vehicles-- in the process creating 4,000 new high-skilled green tech jobs in the area, and many more in the supply chain."

Industrial Info is tracking the only other U.K. EV battery gigafactory project, being developed by China's Envision AESC with carmaker Nissan Motor Company Limited (Yokohama, Japan) in Sunderland, England. It will have an annual capacity of 1 gigawatt-hours (GWh) when it is commissioned in 2024, rising to an annual capacity of up to 38 GWh when fully expanded in later years.

Last month, Industrial Info reported on a global surge in investments for gigafactory projects and is tracking 54 active capital-spending projects globally, worth almost US$42 billion. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Industrial Manufacturing Project Database can click here for the project reports. For additional information, see February 13, 2024, article - Gigafactories Ride the Electric Wave: Investments Surge Amid EV Battery Revolution.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).