India’s Tata will build a $5-billion new electric car battery factory in the UK

LONDON (AP) — India’s Tata Sons has confirmed plans to build a 4-billion-pound, or $5.2-billion, electric car battery factory in the U.K. The plant is expected to become one of Europe’s largest battery cell manufacturing sites when it begins production in 2026. Britain’s government says the new factory is the largest investment in the U.K. automotive industry in decades, and will create 4,000 jobs and thousands more in supply chains. Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps said the plant is expected to produce about 40 gigawatt hours of battery cells every year. The factory will make batteries for Tata’s Jaguar Land Rover and other firms. Shapps says it will produce enough to provide half the U.K.’s electric vehicle batteries.