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 Nissan plant and has an annual output of 1.8GWh, enough to power around 30,000 EVs. In late 2025, AESC opened a second plant with a capacity of 15.8GWh, or nearly nine times the original plant’s output, after a three-year construction period.
In 2023, MPs called on the government to “urgently create” an attractive environment for EV battery production in the UK or risk falling behind competitors. A report from the cross-party Business and Trade Select Committee claimed that if the gap is not plugged, automotive production in the UK could decline, putting hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.
“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 at Agratas, said: “This funding will support the development of our Somerset facility, enabling us to produce battery cells for our anchor customer, JLR. Over the next year we will have over 2,200 people working on the site, and that growth will continue over the coming years.”