Tata Motors plans EV battery plant for Jaguar Land Rover, seeks UK govt's help
- According to reports, Tata Motors has urged the UK government to pay nearly $600 million for the facility. If the UK government doesn't help, the carmaker could shift the facility elsewhere in Europe.
Tata Motors, which owns British luxury car brand Jaguar Land Rover, has reportedly approached the UK government to seek financial help to set up an electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in the country. According to reports in British media, the carmaker wants nearly $600 million (roughly converted to nearly ₹5,000 crore) to set up the facility which will supply key the EV component to its luxury car wing in coming days. Reports also suggest that the Indian carmaker threatens to relocate the facility outside of the country if the UK government denies the fund required.
According to reports, Tata Motors is planning to set up the electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility together with Envision, the EV cell manufacturer from China. It is the same company with which Jaguar Land Rover was planning to partner last year to build EV batteries. A facility was also supposed to come up in Somerset. However, after former PM Boris Johnson stepped down, the plan was delayed.
The fund sought by Tata Motors from the UK government includes subsidies as well as energy and research costs. The carmaker has reportedly given a week's time to the UK government to decide, before which Tata Motors could approach Spain for the upcoming facility. One of the UK government officials was quoted by British media outlet The Telegraph saying, “We are engaging with them – whether or not the talks go anywhere depends on whether a final amount can be agreed."
Jaguar Land Rover was earlier offered funding from the government which was reportedly bigger than its other European rivals. The fresh fund sought by the carmaker is considered to be huge given the estimate of JLR's transition from ICE to EV genre not more than $1.2 billion. The high energy costs required to run the EV manufacturing facility remains one of the key issues for the UK government to decide.
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Tata Motors had earlier hinted at setting up two EV battery manufacturing facilities, one of them being in Europe. However, there is still no clarity if the European facility will be located in the UK.