Britain’s victory in the race to build a flagship battery plant is a boost for Rishi Sunder
After offering Jaguar Land Rover half a billion pounds of subsidies, Rishi Sunak sealed a deal with to bring an electric vehicle battery plant in Somerset.
After beating Spain, Tata Motors’ parent company in India is finalising a decision to construct its flagship battery facility on British soil.
Three sources claimed that the announcement of the investment would be made as early as Wednesday. This is a major victory for the government in its efforts to promote green technologies.
Up to 9,000 new jobs are expected to be created in the South West region of England by the Jaguar Land Rover Battery Plant.
The UK faces stiff competition from both the European Union (EU) and the White House. Both have announced incentive packages that are worth tens or hundreds of millions of pounds in order to attract electric vehicle companies and their suppliers.
Jaguar Land Rover denied that it was offered money to influence their decision. Tata also wants up to £300m in funding for its Port Talbot steelworks.
This would be a significant wager by the officials on one site. Darren Jones said that MPs will “reflect” if the subsidy needed to secure investment in batteries is “scalable enough to meet future battery manufacturing site needs”.
This win was achieved despite the fact that Spain had €2bn in EU funds allocated to boost its domestic sector of electric vehicles. It had however set a cap of €350m to finance new battery factories.
This news comes just months after Britishvolt ‘s collapse, which was hoping to build a factory for electric car batteries near Blyth. The collapse of Britishvolt, a maker of electric car batteries, led to the purchase by an Australian investment firm of its assets.
The UK industry is looking to attract battery suppliers to keep it competitive with Europe. The looming 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles makes a domestic supply network crucial. The Brexit deal also means that cars made with batteries imported from outside Europe are subject to a 10% tariff if they are shipped on the Continent.
Stellantis, owner of Vauxhall, warned in May that car plants will close in Britain, unless Mr Sunak’s deal is altered , to protect the auto industry. This would put tens and thousands of jobs at risk.
A spokesperson for the government said that it was unable to comment on commercial issues. Jaguar Land Rover’s spokesman refused to comment. Tata was not available for comment.