Tata, owner of Jaguar Land-Rover, has confirmed it will invest billions of dollars into the creation of a battery manufacturing “gigafactory” at the Gravity Smart Campus in Somerset, England.
More specifically, the funding is to come from Agratas, a Tata-operated international battery manufacturer. Once operational, the subsidiary estimates its new site will build 40 gigawatt hours worth of batteries per year and supply units for nearly half of the U.K.’s new electric vehicles by the early 2030s. Martin Bellamy, chairman of Gravity, said the plant will be “six or seven million square feet” in size during an interview with BBC News, which went on to claim the factory will create 4,000 jobs locally. Tata currently expects production to start in 2026.
As advertised, the plant would be the biggest of its kind in the U.K., as well as the first Agratas electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility outside its home country of India. Tata expects to spend more than $5 billion on the project, with further financial backing provided through government subsidies.
The Somerset site was once the home of a Royal Ordinance Factory dating back as far as WWII. That facility was decommissioned in 2008, leaving the site empty until now. When constructed, Agratas’ battery manufacturing operations will occupy roughly 50% of the land. Emma Rawlings, chief executive of the Somerset Chamber of Commerce, said the facility would put the region, “its businesses, and workforce at the heart of the green revolution to switch to electric vehicles.”
