The UK could still get a Tesla gigafactory after CEO Elon Musk revealed that the company would be picking a location for a new European plant “towards the end of 2023”.
Previously, Musk chose Germany over the UK and was said to have avoided the UK because he was worried about the impact of Brexit on automotive trade.
This was despite the government working hard to persuade Musk of the UK’s potential, including offering multi-million-pound grants and a location in Somerset (subsequently taken by Tata Motors for its gigafactory in 2023).
Gigafactories are in big demand. They are a critical part of the global EV transition, producing the batteries for electric cars that millions of people will get into over the next decade. For a country, their development can mean billions in investment, resulting in potentially tens of thousands of jobs.
In Europe, this demand is particularly high, as nations seek to nurse their highly important – and influential – automotive industries into the battery age, with minimal impact on workforces.
As one of the largest producers of EVs globally, Tesla is now among the biggest developers of gigafactories and has locations across the US, Mexico, China and Europe. Its European plant is in Germany – known as Giga Berlin – and was first announced in 2019 as a multi-billion project.
The factory opened in March 2022, produces 500,000 vehicles a year and employs around 10,000 people. It’s been a great success for Germany, which had to compete against many other European countries all vying for Tesla’s investment, including the UK.
Has the UK charmed its way back?
There is reason to believe that, perhaps, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak may have finally managed to win over Elon Musk.
Positive signs emerged after both Musk and Sunak developed a slight ‘bromance’ during the government’s flagship AI conference at Bletchley Park. At the event, Musk and Sunak spent a lot of time together and this culminated with Sunak interviewing Musk live in front of business leaders.
Join the debate
Add your comment
It's the economy stupid.
Text says despite UK offering multi million pound grants but there's absolutely no mention of the German government offering Musk 1 billion Euro to built his plant in their country.
It's not rocket science why he chose to build a factory in Germany !
If the UK want Tesla to build a factory in the UK then it's very easy, simply outbid the competition.
As for Andrew1's stupid comment re: Brexit. Ford chose to move all their car and van production to mainland Europe whilst we were in the EU, way long before Brexit was a term. What's your point? What's Brexit got to do with this?
Since this will be for the next, 25k model, no way it will be built in an expensive location with Brexit tariffs on top.
No way they're going to build another in Germany anytime soon after all of the unnecessary roadblocks and red tape Tesla endured for their Berlin factory.
England is very possible... But I'd probably expect to see a battery cell factory before a car factory here.
What Brexit tariffs, you just seem to go staight to lies these days.