Nissan to build battery plant in UK

After Brexit, black clouds loom over the Nissan plant in Sunderland, UK. The factories do make the Leaf, but the Nissan Ariya will only be built in Japan. However, the company has an idea for a UK location and wants to launch a gigafactory of batteries there.

Nissan Gigafactory in Sunderland

The Nissan Gigafactory will be built in collaboration with Envision AESC, a battery manufacturer co-founded by Nissan. It is expected to produce 6 GWh of batteries a year, more than three times what Sunderland currently produces, but significantly less than competitors from Stellantis to Tesla and Volkswagen have announced. 6 GWh of batteries is enough for about 100 EVs.

The plant will be partially funded by the UK government and should be operational in 2024. Batteries from it will go to cars sold in the European Union - just like cars roll off assembly lines in Sunderland now. Unofficially they say that This will be announced on Thursday 1 July..

It is also rumored that the announcement of the investment in a new battery plant will be complemented by an announcement. brand new model electric car... The latter would make sense, the position of the Nissan Leaf is weakening, and the debut of the Nissan Ariya is not expected until 2022. The new model could help the Japanese manufacturer fight for a market in which other brands have already launched an offensive.

Opening photo: Nissan Leaf battery on assembly line in Sunderland (c) Nissan