Nissan announces UK production of new BEVs

NISSAN has announced incoming all-electric versions of its Juke and Qashqai SUVs – as well as a third generation of its pioneering Leaf – as part of a £3 billion ($A5.8b) investment into its Sunderland, UK manufacturing centre that currently exports current-generation versions for all three models to Australia.

Inspired by the Hyper-series concepts that debuted at the recent Japan Mobility Show, the all-electric models will be powered by battery packs built on site at what Nissan refers to as its Nissan EV36Zero hub, a trio of Gigafactory-style battery facilities coming as part of a shared investment with Chinese-owned Envision AESC.

Up to 38GWh of annual electric vehicle battery production is earmarked for the facility by 2028, enough to build 600,000 electric vehicles per annum – matching the overall capacity of the Sunderland facility.

Of the total investment, Nissan says £1.12 billion ($A2.14b) will be allocated to the development and manufacturing of the Juke and Qashqai battery electric vehicles (BEV), with an additional £423 million ($A810m) allocated to the initial phase of development for the third-generation Leaf that is expected to morph from small-segment hatchback to crossover.

The Nissan Casting Australia Plant in Dandenong, Victoria supplies three components for the current-generation Leaf that is produced at Sunderland but Nissan Australia was unable to confirm if the new BEVs will continue or expand on this arrangement.

Nissan confirmed previously that all new-generation models built for Europe from here on in will be electric, with 100 per cent of its European passenger car line-up to be electric by the end of the decade.

“Exciting electric vehicles are at the heart of our plans to achieve carbon neutrality, said Nissan president and CEO, Makoto Uchida.

“With electric versions of our core European models on the way, we are accelerating towards a new era for Nissan, for industry and for our customers.

“The EV36Zero project puts our Sunderland plant, Britain’s biggest ever car factory, at the heart of our future vision. It means our UK team will be designing, engineering, and manufacturing the vehicles of the future, driving us towards an all-electric future for Nissan in Europe.”

Speaking at the announcement on Friday, Mr Uchida said the electricity requirements of the facility will be met by an EV36Zero Microgrid which produces 100 per cent renewable electricity from wind and solar generators at the site.

The announcement also means Nissan will create up to 900 new jobs at its Sunderland facility, adding to an existing workforce of 7000 across the UK.

“Nissan’s investment is a massive vote of confidence in the UK’s automotive industry, which already contributes a massive £71 billion ($A135.9b) a year to our economy,” said British prime minister Rishi Sunak.

“This venture will no doubt secure Sunderland’s future as the UK’s Silicon Valley for electric vehicle innovation and manufacturing.”

It is understood Nissan received significant financial support from the British government in convincing it to build the new models in the UK.

British chancellor Jeremy Hunt recently confirmed that the government would invest as much as £4.5 billion ($A8.6b) into local manufacturing from 2025.

“Britain is now the eighth-largest manufacturer in the world, recently overtaking France,” Mr Hunt told Sky News recently.

“To build on this success, we are targeting funding to support the sectors where the UK is or could be world leading.

“Our £4.5 billion of funding will leverage many times that from the private sector, and in turn will grow our economy, creating more skilled, higher-paid jobs in new industries that will be built to last.”

The new Nissan models will all ride on the company’s CMF-B EV platform which will help to simplify production. A range of electric motors and batteries is expected, alongside two- and all-wheel drive configurations, and V2X bi-directional charging capabilities.

Nissan is also researching solid-state battery technology to dramatically increase the range of its electric vehicle line-up by as early as 2028 – though the models announced this week are expected to draw power from nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) units initially in a bid to lower costs.

Further details of the next-generation Nissan Juke, Leaf and Qashqai EV are expected soon.