JLR at risk of battery supply delays after Somerset factory turmoil

Supplier Agratas sacks its main building contractor on the government-backed project amid a budget mismatch Jaguar Land Rover faces the risk of delays to the first deliveries of electric car batteries from a £5.2bn government-backed factory in Somerset after construction problems. The British carmaker is planning to rely on the Agratas factory in Bridgwater, Somerset, to supply the batteries for its new electric models. Agratas and JLR are owned by the Indian industrial conglomerate Tata. The battery factory – only the second in the UK – is widely seen as a key step in the domestic car industry’s transition away from fossil fuel-powered vehicles. The UK government in April promised £380m in subsidies for the plant. However, Agratas has terminated its main construction contractor, Sir Robert McAlpine (SRM), and replaced it with another, Tonroe Group Ltd (TSL). Agratas informed SRM that its services will not be required beyond the end of the month, giving only three weeks’ notice by letter. When Tata initially announced the gigafactory in 2023 it had targeted a 2026 start date, before pushing it back to 2027. However, it is understood that the latest internal start date, of January 2