Tata Expands Its Steel-To-Software Presence In UK With £4 Billion Gigafactory

India’s Tata Group plans to build a £4 billion gigafactory in the UK to manufacture electric car batteries, expanding its steel-to-software presence in that country.

The investment "is testament to the strength of our car manufacturing industry and its skilled workers," Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement on Wednesday.

The timing could be helpful for Sunak, whose Conservative Party is struggling in the polls and facing a series of tough by-elections, including three on Thursday. One of the elections in which the Conservatives risk losing parliamentary seats is in Somerton and Frome—a mere 30 minutes from where the Tata Gigafactory is due to be built.

The U.K.’s car manufacturing sector, once a core part of the economy, has been struggling to cope with Brexit and the shift to electric vehicles.

This investment will be crucial to boosting the U.K.’s battery manufacturing capacity needed to support the electric vehicle industry in the long term. With an initial output of 40 GWh, it will also provide almost half of the car battery production that the Faraday Institution estimates the U.K. will need by 2030.