Nissan announces £25 million investment in EV battery development
News
21 Jan 2016
Japanese firm Nissan has announced it will be investing an additional £25 million in electric vehicle (EV) battery development at its manufacturing base in Sunderland.
Its renewed commitment will focus on the manufacturing, maintenance and engineering of Nissan’s lithium-ion battery which is used in vehicles such as the Leaf and the e-NV200. The battery plant is also set to be the largest of its type in Europe.
Nissan launched its EV production in Sunderland in 2013, investing £420 million to produce battery and Leaf production facilities, creating more than 2,000 Nissan and supply chain jobs.
£19.4 million will be spent on enabling a consortium of groups including Nissan, Hyperdrive Innovation, Warwick Manufacturing Group, University of Warwick, Newcastle University and Zero Carbon Futures to work together on battery development.
The work is part of development projects that receive funding from the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC)
Paul Willcox, chairman of Nissan Europe, said: "With 200,000 customers around the world already, the Nissan Leaf has transformed the performance and perception of EVs and made Nissan the undisputed leader in EV technology. The announcement reflects Nissan's intention to remain EV leaders for many years to come, with our UK operations at the heart of our future innovations.
"I congratulate all my colleagues in the UK on securing this future technology, which is just reward for the second-to-none quality levels they have achieved since launching battery manufacturing in Sunderland, which remains the biggest UK car plant of all time."
Sajid Javid, Business Secretary, commented: "This investment from Nissan is a further vote of confidence in our thriving automotive sector. The UK is fast becoming a world leader in low carbon automotive technology and the government is backing the industry. We committed an extra £225 million funding to the APC in the Autumn Statement. This Nissan project, which is benefiting from that funding, shows what can be achieved."
