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Electric

Jaguar Land Rover might open a massive UK battery factory

Parent company Tata is expected to pick the Bridgwater location

Published: 24 May 2023

Jaguar Land Rover’s parent company, Tata, is poised to close a deal that would create a massive electric car battery factory in Bridgwater, Somerset. 

Following concerns that there won’t be enough battery supplies to keep UK EV production tariff-free, such an arrangement would be a bit of much-needed good news for the UK auto sector. 

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In as-yet-unconfirmed reports, the agreement between UK, plc. and Tata exchanges hundreds of millions of pounds for the creation of up to 9,000 UK jobs is set to be signed off next week.

The BBC understands that the UK government will part with a combo of cash grants, energy subsidies, and upskilling and research funding – to the tune of an unsubstantiated £500 million. Whatever the figure, it seems it has helped sway the decision for Tata to pick the UK over its other considered site in Spain. 

The government has – in what is understood to be a separate, albeit linked agreement – also offered generous sweeteners to help Tata upgrade and decarbonise its steel operations in Port Talbot, North Wales.

Europe has 35 gigafactories in the offing. If Jeremy Hunt pulls this off, this would be the UK’s third — provided Recharge Industries deliver at the Blyth site. Unsurprisingly, no one was prepared to comment on speculative reports.

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