Nissan announces moves to market electric vehicles and produce lithium-ion batteries
Tue 20 May 2008
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Nissan says it plans to market electric vehicles in the US and Japan by 2010, along with its own hybrids, and to mass-market EVs worldwide by 2012. The company's marketing plans were announced alongside the news that Nissan will invest £115m over three years to mass produce lithium-ion batteries for its cars.
The venture, which is to be 51 percent owned by Nissan and 49 percent by the NEC group, aims to produce up to 65,000 lithium-ion batteries per year from 2009 at a factory near Tokyo.
The Financial Times reports that the factory aims to produce enough batteries for 13,000 vehicles a year initially with capacity expanded later to 65,000 units.
Lithium-ion batteries, common in laptop computers and mobile phones, are enjoying increasing attention as a power supply for cars. Nissan says that the batteries to be produced at their joint plant with NEC will produce twice the electric power of the nickel-metal hydride batteries which are currently used in current cars, including the Toyota Prius.
Several other carmakers are already testing vehicles equipped with lithium-ion batteries. (See LowCVP related news link.)
Manufacturers are reported to be still working through safety and reliability issues, including the batteries' ability to maintain recharging power for the typical lifetime of a car. Lithium-ion batteries are still expensive, but prices are expected to fall as demand for them rises and they are produced in greater quantities.
Speaking about Nissan's investment, the company's executive vice president Carlos Tavares said: "Electric vehicles will be a key product breakthrough our industry can deliver."
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