Nissan is preparing to create one of the world’s largest battery facilities in Sunderland, according to reports. Nissan is thought to be in preliminary talks with the government on building a battery Giga factory close to the north-eastern plant, with the goal of making the UK the world’s largest producer of electric vehicles outside of Japan. Nissan is reportedly seeking tens of millions of pounds from the UK government to create a new electric car battery “gigafactory” in Sunderland.
Nissan intends to facilitate the establishment of a factory at its existing Sunderland location that could produce up to 200,000 batteries per year. The factory would be run by Envision AESC, the company’s Chinese battery manufacturer. It’ll open in 2024 and create 6 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity per year, significantly more than Nissan’s current Sunderland facility, which can only create 1.9GWh. Tesla’s 35 GWh Giga factory in Nevada, USA, would still dwarf it.
Nissan Thunder-land Factory Body Shop:
“After acquiring the UK’s only battery facility in 2019, AESC can reveal that it is delivering batteries to Nissan’s Sunderland factory to construct the Nissan Leaf,” the business stated. There are no responses. When the British government bans the sale of gasoline and diesel automobiles in 2030, plans to create a battery Giga plant are in the works.
Nissan, based in the northeast, has long been a prominent British vehicle manufacturer, and it is home to vehicle and supply chain industries. It has also become a center for battery manufacture, with the establishment of Britishvolt, a new firm specializing in lithium-ion battery research and development.
Insights on Nissan Giga Factory:
Nissan had previously warned that a Brexit trade deal with taxes and border inspections would jeopardize the viability of the 6,000-person Sunderland facility. The Financial Times was the first to report on the potential factory’s details on Wednesday.
“Our Sunderland facility has played a pioneering role in growing the electric car sector, having begun EV [electric vehicle] and battery production in the UK in 2013 with the Nissan Leaf,” Nissan added. As previously stated, as part of our worldwide drive to carbon neutrality, we will continue to electrify our assortment. However, at this time, we have no additional plans to announce.”
The new plant could be announced before the Cop26 climate meeting, which will be held by the United Kingdom later this year. “We are committed to establishing gigafactories and continue to work closely with investors and vehicle manufacturers to pursue plans to mass-produce batteries in the UK,” a spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said.
Conclusion:
Following a brief visit to the UK last week, it was reported that Tesla CEO Elon Musk was considering plans to establish a gigafactory in Somerset. The corporation, on the other hand, has declined to comment on the rumors. The energy regulator, Ofgem, revealed plans this week to install 300,000 additional electric car charging stations to locations across the UK, including 35 highways, in order to make driving more environmentally friendly.
The £300 million investment will more than triple the current network’s capacity. The investment is part of a £40 billion strategy to improve the country’s electric vehicle infrastructure.
