India’s Tata chooses UK for $5 bln Jaguar Land Rover gigafactory

London, The Gulf Observer: India’s Tata Group will build an electric vehicle battery plant in Britain to supply its Jaguar Land Rover factories, delivering a major boost for a UK car industry in need of domestic battery production to help secure its future.

The announcement marks Britain’s biggest move in the car gigafactory space as it seeks to keep up with the United States and European Union in the race to develop green industries.

Tata said on Wednesday it would build its first gigafactory outside of India in Britain with an investment of 4 billion pounds ($5.2 billion), creating up to 4,000 jobs and producing an initial output of 40 gigawatt hours.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government declined to outline the financial support it had promised Tata to fend off Spain, which had also lobbied to win the project.

During a visit to a JLR facility on Wednesday, Sunak said the investment was a “fantastic vote of confidence” in Britain’s economy, adding that the UK had provided targeted investment.

“We’re actually well on our way to providing the EV capacity that the country needs,” he said.

Energy minister Grant Shapps told the BBC that the support package was “large” but would not directly reach 1 billion pounds, adding that details of the deal would follow later due to commercial sensitivities.

Britain has lagged European rivals in building electric vehicle (EV) battery gigafactories, with more than 30 planned or under construction across the EU. Britain currently has one small Nissan plant and another in the works.