Nissan has announced details of a new battery gigafactory that will enable its Sunderland auto plant to massively increase production of electric vehicles.
The Japanese automaker said the £ 1 billion battery plant, built in partnership with Chinese automaker Envision, would create 900 jobs at Nissan plus 750 at Envision – and a total of 6,200 if the impact on suppliers is included.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed Nissan, to which the government has reportedly given some financial backing, as a “major vote of confidence in the UK”.
The factory would become the largest battery gigafactory in the UK.
The term, coined by You’re here founder Elon musk, comes from the unit of measure representing billions.
Envision is already producing lithium-ion batteries for Nissan’s short-range Leaf model at Sunderland in a plant with a capacity of 1.7 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year.
The new plant will be much larger and is expected to have a capacity of 9 GWh, sufficient to produce batteries for up to 100,000 vehicles per year.
The announcement was welcomed by the UK auto industry body, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, but said more was needed for the UK to meet its net zero targets.
Workers on the production line at Nissan’s Sunderland plant
As part of the announcement, Nissan is committing £ 432million to produce a next-generation all-electric vehicle in the UK which it says will build on the success of the Leaf models already produced in Sunderland.
Commitment to battery production at the UK’s largest car factory will be a boost to manufacturing as the industry strives to meet the government’s target of banning new motor vehicles gasoline and internal combustion diesel by 2030.
The Prime Minister said: “Nissan’s announcement is a major vote of confidence in the UK and our highly skilled workers in the North East.
“Building on over 30 years of history in …
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-06-30 20:13:00