Nissan has announced a £1,000 million (€1,165 million) investment to transform its factory in Sunderland (UK) to manufacture electric SUVs and batteries.
The plan is called the Nissan EV36Zero and was presented Thursday at an online press conference, just six months after the Barcelona plants closed. The shutdown in Catalonia is part of a restructuring plan that the Japanese manufacturer will develop over the next few years to return to competitiveness in which it estimates a savings of 2,530 million euros, and through which it will leave Europe behind to focus on China. Japan and North America.
According to the Japanese brand, the company, together with the Nissan EV36Zero, aims to accelerate its path to carbon neutrality and will establish a 360-degree solution focused on “zero emissions” engines.
The investment will be supported by partners such as battery manufacturer Envision AESC and Sunderland City Council, and will be based on three axes: electric vehicle production, battery manufacturing and renewable electricity.
“This project is part of Nissan’s pioneering efforts to achieve carbon neutrality throughout the lifecycle of our products. Our comprehensive approach includes not only the development and production of electric vehicles, but also the use of on-board batteries. Energy storage and energy storage, as well as energy storage and energy storage,” said Makoto Uchida, Nissan President and CEO.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Nissan’s announcement to build a 100% electric car in Sunderland, along with the new giant Envision AESC plant, was a “huge vote of confidence” for him.
Specifically, Nissan will invest up to £423 million (nearly €493 million) to adapt the plant to production of the new electric SUV, which will be based on the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance’s CMF-EV platform.
For its part, Envision AESC will invest about $450 million (€407 million) in building the battery plant, which will initially be capable of producing around 9 gigawatt-hours (GWh). At a future stage, the potential investment may rise to 1,800 million pounds (2097 million euros).
In addition, Sunderland City Council will lead a renewable electricity grid project to generate power and save an estimated 55,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually. This will amount to 80 million pounds (93 million euros).
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