Nissan Europe
Nissan has said it will invest an additional £2bn in its UK car manufacturing plant to produce three electric vehicle (EV) models.
The Japanese carmaker currently produces the petrol-powered Qashqai and the Juke hybrid at its Sunderland factory, which employs 6,000 workers.
It plans to switch both of these models over to full electric while also adding the next-generation Nissan Leaf to its production capacity.
Nissan has committed to a direct investment of up to £1.12bn to achieve this, as well as wider investment in infrastructure projects and the supply chain, including a new gigafactory, bringing a total new investment up to £2bn.
Both vehicle and battery manufacturing will be powered by the ‘EV36Zero Microgrid’, which incorporates 10 wind turbines installed on-site at the Sunderland plant to contribute 6.6MW power to the plant and a further 4.75MW generated from its solar farm.
Nissan Europe
Earlier this week, MPs called on the government to “urgently create” an attractive environment for EV battery production in the UK or risk falling behind competitors.
It said the UK faces a huge “gigafactory gap”, with less battery production capacity than needed for the nation’s future needs.
In July, Tata Group announced plans to build a £4bn battery factory in the UK to create 4,000 jobs and produce an initial output of 40 gigawatt-hours a year.
The UK government has also given Nissan £15m of funding for a £30m collaborative project to strengthen the technical expertise and R&D zero-emission vehicle capability of the Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE) in Cranfield, Bedfordshire.
Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida said: “EVs are at the heart of our plans to achieve carbon neutrality. With electric versions of our core European models on the way, we are accelerating towards a new era for Nissan, for industry and for our customers.
“The EV36Zero project puts our Sunderland plant, Britain’s biggest ever car factory, at the heart of our future vision. It means our UK team will be designing, engineering and manufacturing the vehicles of the future, driving us towards an all-electric future for Nissan in Europe.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Nissan’s investment is a massive vote of confidence in the UK’s automotive industry, which already contributes a massive £71bn a year to our economy. This venture will no doubt secure Sunderland’s future as the UK’s Silicon Valley for EV innovation and manufacturing.
“Making the UK the best place to do business is at the heart of our economic plan. We will continue to back businesses like Nissan to expand and grow their roots in the UK every step of the way as we make the right long-term decisions for a brighter future.”
The Nissan Sunderland plant first opened in 1986 and is one of Europe’s largest car plants. Earlier this year, Nissan marked the milestone of building their 11 millionth vehicle there since production started.
