Tata Group To Invest Over $5 Billion In UK Electric Battery Factory

The investment will boost the UK’s battery manufacturing capacity.

London:

Indian conglomerate Tata Group will invest over 4 billion pounds ($5.2 billion) in a giant battery plant in southwest England that will create thousands of jobs, the UK government and the company said on Wednesday.

“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,” said Tata chairman N. Chandrasekaran.

The factory — Tata Group’s first gigafactory outside India — will be built in Somerset after the site reportedly beat off competition from Spain.

Production is due to begin at the factory in 2026, creating up to 4,000 jobs and thousands more in the wider supply chain.

The investment will boost the UK’s battery manufacturing capacity — critical to supporting the electric vehicle industry.

Britain plans to ban the sale of new high-polluting diesel and petrol cars from 2030, forcing its car manufacturing sector to switch production to electric vehicles.

That target is part of its long-standing goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050 in order to help tackle climate change.

UK Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said in a statement the multibillion-pound investment demonstrated that the “government has got the right plan when it comes to the automotive sector”.

Environmental body Greenpeace welcomed the announcement as a “significant moment for the UK car industry and a signal that the government has finally started the engine in the international clean technology race, while other are speeding ahead.”.

Greenpeace senior climate campaigner Paul Morozzo however warned that the UK government must stay on track with its plan to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles.

“Failing to do so would mean waving goodbye to any meaningful electric vehicle manufacturing sector in the UK, regardless of this new gigafactory, which would put domestic car manufacturing as a whole in jeopardy,” he said.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)