Automakers

Tata hints at U.K. battery plant plans as it posts job ads

Jaguar Land Rover production Solihull
Production at JLR's factory in Solihull, England. (Phil Noble/REUTERS)
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By:
Bloomberg
July 04, 2023 08:52 AM

Tata Group has posted job openings for a U.K.-based cell developer and construction project manager, suggesting the parent company of JLR is preparing to locate its new battery factory in Britain.

The job advertisements, posted on LinkedIn, are for Tata’s battery-cell operation Agratas, which is building two factories — one in India and one in Europe.

The ads did not say whether the factory would be in the U.K., only that the positions would be based in Coventry, where JLR currently produces cars.

A decision in favor of the U.K. would secure the future of JLR’s plants in the country, following an intense competition with Spanish authorities. The plant will have an eventual capacity of 40 gigawatt hours.

A U.K. factory would mark a significant win for government and auto industry, which has been struggling to compete with European Union and US incentives for green-technology investments such as battery sites. The U.K.’s earlier cellmaking hopeful Britishvolt this year fell into administration.

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