LONDON: Indian conglomerate Tata Group announced on Wednesday that it will build a gigafactory in Britain to manufacture batteries, as nations accelerate away from fossil fuel vehicles.

The £4 billion plant in the county of Somerset, southwest England, will be Tata’s first gigafactory outside India.

The UK reportedly beat off competition from Spain for the project, set to create thousands of jobs.

The UK plant will become one of Europe’s largest battery-cell manufacturing sites with a capacity of 40 gigawatt hours, Tata said in a statement.

The announcement was a major boost for Britain’s Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, coming on the eve of three crucial by-elections in England, including one in Somerset.

“Tata Group will be setting up one of Europe’s largest battery cell manufacturing facilities in the UK,” said its chairman N. Chandrasekaran.

“Our multi-billion-pound investment will bring state-of-the-art technology to the country.”

Production was due to begin in 2026, creating up to 4,000 jobs and thousands more in the wider supply chain. The British government claimed the factory would be a huge boost to the UK’s automotive sector, providing almost half of the battery production the country would require by 2030.

The gigafactory will supply JLR’s future battery electric models including the Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar brands, with the potential to also supply other car manufacturers.

“Tata group’s decision to build their new gigafactory here in the UK... is a huge vote of confidence in Britain,” added Sunak.

“This will be one of the largest ever investments in the UK automotive sector.

“It will not only create thousands of skilled jobs for Britons around the country, but it will also strengthen our lead in the global transition to electric vehicles, helping to grow our economy in clean industries of the future.”

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2023