The Indian parent company Tata apparently wants to build a new battery factory in Great Britain.
(Photo: REUTERS)
London The Indian industrial group Tata has apparently chosen Great Britain as the location for its new battery factory in Europe. This is reported unanimously by the British media and refers to corporate circles. Accordingly, the plant is to be built in Sommerset in the south-west of England.
Spain was also in the running for the new factory. The British government is said to have offered subsidies of up to 500 million pounds (about 585 million euros) to get the bid. The government initially declined to comment.
The new factory is seen as a key investment for the British automotive industry in general and the traditional manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover Group (JLR) in particular. The government in London is trying to keep up with the planned location in the global location competition for green technologies, which has intensified significantly, above all due to the massive subsidies from the USA in this area. The British battery start-up Britishvolt, which originally wanted to build a gigafactory in north-east England, went bankrupt earlier this year.
For the Tata subsidiary JLR, the decision would be an important support when switching to electric vehicles. JLR plans to invest £15 billion in electrification of its model range over the next five years. In addition, the battery factory would be a vote of confidence in the British auto industry, which secures around 800,000 jobs. Tata’s bid would be the largest investment in the UK car industry since the 1980s.
The exact investment volume has not yet been determined, but is likely to be in the billions. The plant is said to have a capacity of 40 gigawatt hours. Experts assume that the investment could immediately create up to 9,000 jobs.
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