Akihabara News (Tokyo) – After revealing its plan to build a new EV-manufacturing hub in the United Kingdom last month, Nissan announced its latest venture in Japan. The automaker is teaming up with Envision-AESC, a manufacturer of lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles, to build and operate a car battery factory in Ibaraki Prefecture.
The project will start on a smaller scale with an investment of about US$456 million, with the first phase aiming for a production capacity of six gigawatt hours annually from 2023.
The companies have predicted future need for an expansion that will requiring doubling both the investment and the production capacity, which at that time is estimated would be able to power 163,000 Nissan Leaf electric vehicles.
Nissan asserts that domestic demand for electric vehicles is about to take off.
Envision-AESC has been on a steady expansion with several battery plants inside and outside Japan, partnering with Nissan and Renault.
According to Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida, the development of the EV-manufacturing hub in the UK was “a start in our electrification strategy.”
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