Allegations of unlawful campaigning in the 2016 EU referendum

• Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is expected to build a multi-billion-pound electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in the UK rather than Spain – welcome news for British car makers.
• After decades of decline, this could help turn Britain into a base for battery production, saving its ailing auto sector.
• This dictates the duty levied on a product based on where it was made, which could add tariffs on UK cars with Asia-made batteries.
• It’s unlikely that one new battery plant alone will save the UK auto industry, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.
• But it’s become harder to make the business case for UK auto manufacturing as the realities of Brexit have set in.

British-made batteries

• The shift from petrol and diesel engines to batteries is possibly one of the biggest opportunities for the UK to protect what’s left of its auto industry.
• The batteries used to power EVs are large, expensive and difficult to transport because regulators often class them as hazardous materials making transportation subject to strict regulations.
• It currently only has the capacity to make enough batteries for 40,000 cars a year.

The road ahead

• But it seems the UK government hopes to catch up, with the help of the largest “British” car manufacturer JLR (actually owned by Indian group Tata).
• This is why JLR’s plan to build the largest battery plant in the UK is very welcome news for UK auto manufacturing.
• This could build on the blueprint British car manufacturing already designed with Japanese automakers in the 1980s.