The government has signed off on a £380m investment in Agratas, the battery manufacturing unit of Jaguar Land Rover-owner Tata Group, to deliver an electric car battery gigafactory in Somerset.
Tata’s Somerset site
The £4bn scheme at Gravity Smart Campus is expected to have an annual capacity of 40GWh with production scheduled to start next year.
Plans for the gigafactory, which will be Tata’s first outside India, were first confirmed in 2023, with negotiations over grant funding begun by the former Conservative government and now finalised by Labour. It was initially reported that Tata was seeking close to £500m to help fund the project.
Tata previously received a pledge of £500m in government support to upgrade its Port Talbot steelworks in Wales with the construction of a new greener electric arc furnace after a series of job losses and closures at the site.
“This government is backing the industries of the future by investing in auto firms, SMEs and battery manufacturers across the country – helping to boost economic growth and our resilience, secure jobs and put more money in people’s pockets,” said business secretary Peter Kyle.
“In an unstable world, our Modern Industrial Strategy is providing investors the stability and confidence they need to plan not just for the next year, but for the next 10 years and beyond. That is what sets us apart from the rest, and will help ensure advanced manufacturing remains a thriving sector in the UK for decades to come.”
Earl Wiggins, vice-president of manufacturing operations UK at Agratas, said the battery facility would play “a vital role in delivering net zero and strengthening the UK’s position as a global leader in battery manufacturing”, with over 2,200 people expected to be working on the site over the next year, adding that “growth will continue over the coming years”.
He said: “This funding will support the development of our Somerset facility, enabling us to produce battery cells for our anchor customer, Jaguar Land Rover.”
The project is estimated to generate around £43bn worth of economic growth over a 25-year period once the facility is in full operation, strengthening economic security and reducing Britain’s reliance on imports.
Construction is ongoing with the aim of starting battery production by the end of 2027. Agratas had planned to start production in 2026, but Jaguar Land Rover last year delayed the launch of its flagship electric car, a trend among electric vehicle manufacturers due to overestimating demand.
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