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Nissan will invest £1bn in Sunderland to build a new EV gigafactory battery plant – and has teased a new electric crossover
Nissan will build an all-new EV crossover at its Sunderland factory as part of a huge £1bn investment into electric car production in the UK.
Teased here for the first time, the new electric crossover is expected to be similar in size to the Juke, and Nissan says up to 100,000 a year could be built.
It will be based on the new Renault-Nissan Alliance CMF-EV platform that's set to underpin a whole generation of new EVs.
The new EV will sit below the Nissan Ariya electric SUV, which is set to launch later in 2021.
The firm’s Sunderland investment is called Nissan EV36Zero and is centered around a 9 GWh EV battery gigafactory.
This has been hailed by PM Boris Johnson as “a major vote of confidence in the UK” and Nissan says future expansion could take capacity up to 35 GWh by 2030.
Trade body the SMMT says the UK needs 60 GWh of EV battery manufacturing capacity by 2030 – meaning Nissan could account for more than half the country’s battery output in less than a decade’s time.
Next-generation EV batteries will be built at the new plant. Nissan says these will have 30% more energy density, for improved range and efficiency.
They will also be cheaper to make, helping make EVs more accessible thanks to lower prices.
The new factory complements Nissan’s existing EV battery plant at Sunderland, which supplies units for the Nissan Leaf.
This has a capacity of 1.7 GWh – which shows what a big step on the new facility will be.
A total of 6,200 new jobs will be created at Nissan and in its UK suppliers. Longer term, “the transformational project modernises and expands Nissan’s EV production capability in the UK”.