India’s Tata Group revs up Britain’s idling EV drive with US$5 billion battery plant: ‘by 2035, it will all be electric’

Tata plans to build a 40-gigawatt battery factory that analysts say will be able to meet nearly half of Britain’s battery production needs by 2030

It represents the single largest investment into Britain’s EV sector and is expected to create 4,000 jobs, helping PM Rishi Sunak fulfil his promises

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A model of the proposed new electric battery factory to be built in Britain is seen during Rishi Sunak’s visit to Land Rover’s base in Warwick, central England, on Wednesday. Photo: Pool/AFP

Published: 9:30am, 24 Jul 2023Updated: 1:17pm, 26 Jul 2023

Tata Group’s £4 billion (US$5.2 billion) investment in a British battery factory will not only help Britain bridge the gap in electric vehicles with other European nations but also give a boost to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s political fortunes, analysts say.

The Indian owner of carmaker Jaguar Land Rover announced on Wednesday that it would build a 40-gigawatt battery cell factory in Britain, which according to research institute the Faraday Institution will be enough to meet nearly half the country’s battery production needs – an estimated 100GWh – by 2030.

“The United Kingdom was facing the dire possibility that it would miss out on the EV market altogether as it is way behind the rest of Europe in positioning itself for the transfer away from vehicles propelled by internal combustion engines,” said V. (Paddy) Padmanabhan, a marketing professor at international business school INSEAD.

“Having a domestic battery plant is extremely important to enable domestic EV manufacturing as they are hard to transport across distances.”

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (right) visits Land Rover’s base in Warwick, central England, with Tata Chairman of the Board Natarajan Chandrasekaran on Wednesday.

Britain’s hopes of building a home-grown EV industry were given a jolt when start-up firm Britishvolt collapsed earlier this year following dismal sales throughout the pandemic.