Japanese automotive giant Nissan will be making the first battery facility in the UK as per Sky News. The factory is slated to open in Sunderland in 2024 and is expected to produce batteries in 200,000 electric cars every year. Nissan will be partnering with Chinese specialist Envision AESC to build the batteries. It will produce 6 gigawatts of battery capacity per year which is far more than 1.9-gigawatt-hours of capacity that an existing Envision AESC Sunderland plan has. Of course, all of this is made to look tiny compared to what Tesla has in the US with the 35-gigawatt hour Gigafactory in Nevada.
Of course, the cost is in the hundreds of millions and the British government will be contributing to the cost. The cost, however, is not known.
“It is hoped the new plant will be producing batteries in time for 2024 when the level of UK-made components in UK-made cars is required to start increasing in line with the terms of the UK’s trade deal with the European Union – where most of Nissan’s Sunderland-assembled cars are sold,” reported the BBC.
“Industry sources expect the scale and size of the new facility may closely match that of a new facility in Douai, France, recently announce by Renault – which is a major shareholder in Nissan and a partner in a global manufacturing alliance,” the report added.
Nissan of course is known for the Leap EV which is also made in Sunderland. It could be there is a new electric car launch on the cards.