The government has confirmed it will give a £380m grant to Tata Group’s in-construction battery plant ahead of plans to open the facility in late 2027.
Batteries from the gigafactory, which will be built by Tata subsidiary Agratas, are expected to supply Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing operations in the UK. JLR has been owned by Tata Motors since a $2.3bn all-cash deal was made in 2008.
While construction has already started on the project, some earlier delays in the development of JLR’s EV line-up saw its initial launch date pushed back. The factory is designed to eventually produce 40 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of battery capacity annually, making it one of the largest facilities of its type in Europe.
Tata Group originally confirmed construction on the plant in early 2024, estimating it would cost around £4bn in total.
Until recently, the UK only had one gigafactory – in Sunderland, run by the Chinese-owned firm AESC since 2012. The factory supplies the local...