7:40 am, March 1, 2023
Jaguar Land Rover has reportedly asked the government for £500m in state aid to help fund a UK-based battery factory – and wants an answer within weeks.
A report in the Financial Times says JLR parent company Tata is currently weighing up whether to build the factory somewhere in the south west of England, or in Spain.
Tata is reported to be demanding an aid package that exceeds £500m to include grants, help with energy costs and cash for R&D.
A government official told the paper: ‘We are engaging with them – whether or not the talks go anywhere depends on whether a final amount can be agreed.’
Officially, neither parties would comment on the record about the discussions to the FT.
However, one of the paper’s sources, who is close to the negotiations, said that the amount of money Tata is requesting has ‘increased significantly’.
Tata chief financial officer PB Balaji announced plans to produce electric vehicle batteries in Europe in January at the Auto Expo 2023 in Delhi.
At the time, the plant’s location was not disclosed, but the plans were for a factory that would make batteries primarily for Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors, and also sell them to the wider market.
JLR are in the early stages of ramping up EV production across its range of cars. Currently, the Jaguar I-Pace is the only fully electric vehicle in its range.
A decision to back the battery factory being built in the UK by the government would give the industry a significant boost.
It comes days after an Australian start up took over the failed Britishvolt business and pledged to build a gigafactory at Blyth.
Car Dealer reported in January that the troubled company had collapsed after failing to secure funding, leading to hundreds of employees being laid off.
Recharge was announced as the preferred bidder for the firm at the start of February.
Britishvolt was offered £100m in state aid before it collapsed. The FT says the government has £850m banked ready to invest in battery makers in the UK.
Nissan is said to have been handed £100m for its EV investment in Sunderland and Stellantis got £30m to make electric vans at Ellesmere Port.
Car Dealer Live – the future of the car dealer – exclusive conference features talks from leading car dealers, Google and Auto Trader among much more. Find out the full event details and book tickets.
