Nissan has announced a £26.5 million investment towards its production of electric vehicle batteries at the manufacturer’s UK car plant in Sunderland.
The plan secures the production of future Nissan electric models including the LEAF and the e-NV200. The latest investment by Nissan will be spent on projects to develop and improve the lithium-ion batteries used to run their electric cars.
The LEAF at Sunderland
This news from Nissan arrives during the same month that an updated version of the all-electric Nissan LEAF with an improved official range of 155 miles goes on sale across Europe.
The Nissan LEAF was the first electric car to ever be mass-produced in the UK and about 60,000 batteries are produced at Nissan’s Sunderland plant each year.
Since EV production began in Britain back in 2013, Nissan has supported more than 2,000 jobs in its UK supply chain.
Industry reaction
The Chairman of Nissan Europe, Paul Wilcox, commented: “With 200,000 customers around the world already, the Nissan LEAF has transformed the performance and perception of EVs and made Nissan the undisputed leader in EV technology.
“Today’s announcement reflects Nissan’s intention to remain EV leaders for many years to come, with our UK operations at the heart of our future innovations.”
The UK Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, described Nissan’s investment as “a further vote of confidence in our thriving automotive sector.”
