Nissan's new battery gigafactory in UK to create 6,200 jobs
Nissan has announced that it will set up a car battery gigafactory in the UK and that a new EV will be built there. The project, dubbed as EV36Zero, will entail an investment of £1 billion and shall create 6,200 jobs. The facility will be built in Sunderland and shall run on renewable energy. It will power up to 1,00,000 EVs every year.
Envision AESC will invest £450 million for the factory's construction
Envision AESC, which is the battery supplier of Nissan, will invest £450 million for the plant's construction. Meanwhile, up to £1 billion will be invested on an all-electric vehicle, with Nissan spending up to £423 million and the rest contributed by the Sunderland City Council. The gigafactory will create 900 new jobs at Nissan, 750 at Envision AESC, and around 4,550 in supply chain.
'This factory will play a role in UK's EV transition'
UK Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said, "The cars made in this plant, using batteries made just down the road at the UK's first at-scale gigafactory, will have a huge role to play as we transition away from petrol and diesel cars." Nissan COO, Ashwani Gupta said, "This is a landmark day for Nissan, our partners, UK, and the automotive industry as a whole."
Nissan ARIYA's launch has been delayed due to chip shortage
Meanwhile, Nissan's flagship ARIYA EV, which was supposed to be launched this summer, has been postponed to winter due to the prevailing global shortage of chips. To recall, the car was announced in July 2020 and was to be up available in Japan from mid-2021. It is now expected to arrive in China, Europe, and North America by the end of 2021.
Investments worth £1.8 billion possible by 2030
CEO of Envision Group, Lei Zhang said that his company has strengthened its partnership with Nissan "to make high performance, longer-range batteries for Electric Vehicles affordable and accessible for millions of more motorists." He also said that growth in demand could create 4,500 new jobs and bring future investments worth £1.8 billion by 2030.
