Nissan set to manufacture all-electric car in UK
Around 2,250 jobs are likely to be maintained in the north east of England following an announcement from Nissan that it is to manufacture the all-electric Nissan LEAF at its Sunderland plant.
The company also said that construction of its advanced lithium-ion battery plant, which was announced last year, will begin this April. The facility, which will be located at Sunderland, will have a production capacity of 60,000 units a year and will start manufacturing batteries in 2012 for Nissan and its Alliance partner Renault.
The production of Nissan LEAF and the batteries represents a total investment of more than £420m in the Sunderland plant.
The investment will be supported by a £20.7m Grant for Business Investment (GBI) from the UK government and a proposed finance package from the European Investment Bank of up to €220m (£197.3m).
Work to integrate Nissan LEAF into Sunderland’s manufacturing process will begin in 2012. The car will be launched on the plant’s ’Number 2’ production line alongside the Juke compact crossover car, which enters production in August 2010.
The UK’s business secretary Lord Mandelson said: ‘The automotive sector is of key importance to the UK. It supports R&D, technological innovation, skills and a supply chain that’s a mainstay of the wider manufacturing sector.
Register now to continue reading
Thanks for visiting The Engineer. You’ve now reached your monthly limit of news stories. Register for free to unlock unlimited access to all of our news coverage, as well as premium content including opinion, in-depth features and special reports.
Benefits of registering
-
In-depth insights and coverage of key emerging trends
-
Unrestricted access to special reports throughout the year
-
Daily technology news delivered straight to your inbox
UK Enters ‘Golden Age of Nuclear’
Apologies if this is a duplicate post - a glitch appears to have removed the first one: > While I welcome the announcement of this project, I note...