TOKYO, Japan — Nissan Motor is planning to establish a massive electric vehicle battery plant in the United Kingdom, investing 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) with a Chinese battery business and the local city council to accomplish its zero-emission goals. Nissan’s partnership with Envision Group comes as global automakers scramble to secure supplies of batteries, the most expensive component of electric vehicles, in order to meet rising demand in Europe. This week, Envision and Nissan’s alliance partner Renault revealed plans for a 2 billion euro ($2.4 billion) facility in France. During a visit to Nissan’s Sunderland facility in northern England on Thursday, Nissan Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta remarked, “This is a major, transformational project.” “It will boost research and development here in the UK, assist suppliers in making the transition to electrification, improve factory competitiveness, and further develop Nissan’s workforce’s capabilities.” Envision’s battery unit, Envision AESC, would invest 450 million pounds in the project, codenamed Nissan EV36Zero, to create a 9 GW capacity factory near its Sunderland plant, which already provides batteries for Nissan’s Leaf EV. The new plant will be capable of producing 100,000 Nissan EVs per year. According to a release, the project can be enlarged to 35 GW with 1.8 billion pounds in funding from a Chinese battery manufacturer. Nissan will invest up to 423 million pounds in Sunderland to develop a new electric crossover vehicle, in addition to the Leaf and Qashqai crossover sport utility vehicles. The Sunderland City Council plans to build up to ten solar farms to provide the Japanese manufacturer and its neighboring suppliers with 100 percent sustainable energy. A total of 6,200 jobs are planned to be created as a result of the project. Nissan sold its Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) electric car battery unit to Envision in 2018, under former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, in order to decrease expenses. Nissan wants to have electrified lineup alternatives for all of its passenger vehicles in Europe by 2023. It still owns a 20% share in Envision AESC. The Franco-Japanese cooperation is one of a slew of automakers vying for EV battery supply. In April, GM and LG Chem announced a $2.3 billion investment to build a battery production plant on the grounds of a GM plant in the United States, while Stellantis, which owns brands like Alfa Romeo and Fiat, has two projects in Europe through a joint venture with a TotalEnergies subsidiary. In the meantime, Volkswagen, which owns a Swedish battery manufacturer, and Tesla are scaling up production of their own batteries in Germany. Europe has emerged as a crucial driver of the EV market’s expansion. Subsidies and regulatory pressure on gasoline and diesel-powered cars pushed EVs to account for 10% of new car sales last year, up from 3.2 percent in 2019./n
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