Nissan’s joint venture with electronics maker NEC Corp will invest ¥12 billion (US$115 million) to start mass-producing lithium-ion batteries — a technology widely viewed as key for next-generation “green” cars.
Nissan Motor Co executive vice president Carlos Tavares told reporters yesterday that the Japanese automaker wants to be a global leader in “zero-emission vehicles.”
Lithium-ion batteries are now more common in laptops and other gadgets, although all the world’s major automakers are working on applying the batteries for their cars.
The new batteries will be more powerful — and half the size — of nickel-metal hydride batteries that are now commonly used in ecological cars today, Nissan officials said.
Nissan’s joint venture, to be known as Automotive Energy Supply Corp, plans to make advanced lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, hybrids and fuel cells — all important technology to reduce pollution as well as gases linked to global warming.
“Nissan firmly believes the ultimate solution for sustainable mobility lies in zero-emission vehicles,” Tavares said at a Tokyo hotel.
A plant for the batteries, set to be running by next year, will have annual production capacity of 65,000 and a starting capacity of 13,000, Nissan said. The investment would last three years, it said.
The first commercial products with the new batteries are Nissan forklifts due next year, but electric vehicles for the US and Japanese markets will follow in 2010, Tavares said.
Tokyo-based Nissan has sometimes been criticized as falling behind Japanese rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co in ecological technology.
Toyota has a big hit with its gas-electric hybrid, Prius, which has already crossed the 1 million sales mark worldwide over the decade it has been on the market. Honda also has its own hybrid and fuel-cell models.
Nissan has said it will introduce its own hybrid in 2010, other than the electric vehicles planned for the US and Japan.
By 2012, Nissan plans to mass-market electric vehicles to consumers globally. It is also planning to make available zero-emission electric vehicles on a wide scale in Israel and Denmark in 2011.
Nissan said it would market its lithium-ion battery to other automakers and customers, an effort that will help cut costs by boosting production numbers.
But Nissan has competition in this race. Toyota has said it will start mass-producing lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrids in the next few years. Japan’s top automaker is working with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co, which makes Panasonic brand products.
Massive global recalls in recent years — of laptops reportedly suspected of catching fire because of faulty lithium-ion batteries — have raised fears about their safety.
Nissan said it did tests to ensure the safety, performance and reasonable cost of its new battery. Nissan declined to give details of the electric cars in the works, including pricing.
The joint venture is 51 percent owned by Nissan and 49 percent by NEC and its subsidiary.
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