Plans to build Britain’s biggest electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), have been formally confirmed in an announcement that amount to a £4bn investment in the UK’s new gigafactory.
JLR parent Tata Group’s made the announcement through its global battery business Agratas which has confirmed that the Gravity Smart Campus located near Bridgwater in Somerset has been chosen as the location of its new UK car battery gigafactory and that Agratas will be the first occupier of the new campus.
This marks the first time Somerset will have been formally confirmed as the location for the UK’s new gigafactory which will also be Tata Group’s first car battery gigafactory outside of India.
The UK’s new gigafactory will have a capacity of 40 GWh and will create batteries for both JLR and Tata Motors and is expected to be online the early 2030s at which point it is expected to contribute almost half of the projected battery manufacturing capacity required for the UK automotive sector.
At the time of the announcement, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described it as “one of the largest ever investments in the UK automotive sector”.
The £4bn investment will directly create 4,000 jobs and thousands more in the wider supply chain, with it hugely significant for the UK as a whole.
Martin Bellamy, chairman, and Tom Curtis, co–founders of Gravity, said: “It’s impossible to overstate how important this is for the UK. It is the catalyst to kick-start the electric vehicle revolution in the UK. As the biggest battery gigafactory in the UK, and one of the largest in Europe, its transformational impact will be enormous.”
Gravity Smart Campus
The Gravity Smart Campus is set out over 616 acres and strategically located in the South West of the UK and is connected by road, rail, deep sea port and international airports, with direct access to the M5 J23, proximity to Bristol and Exeter International Airports, and it is planned to have on-site freight and passenger rail terminals when complete. Gravity Smart Campus is expected to create another 3000 or so supporting jobs in the area over and above the UK car battery gigafactory jobs at JLR and the site has Designated Enterprise Zone status until 2042.
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