Nissan Motor announces $18 billion investment to boost EV business

Japan's Nissan Motor Co. aims to invest Yen 2 trillion ($17.6 billion) over the next five years to expand its electric vehicle business, the vehicle maker said Nov. 29, which includes establishing EV refurbishing plants in Europe and the US by March 2026.

The plants are part of its "Nissan Ambition 2030" plan announced the same day. Nissan Motor plans to introduce 20 new EVs and e-power vehicles in the next five years with a target to expand its EV sales by the end of its financial year ending March 31, 2027.

Unlike conventional EVs which use rechargeable batteries, e-power vehicle use a powertrain that features a gasoline engine/generator to charge a battery.

The company plans to produce EVs using its proprietary all-solid-state batteries by fiscal year 2028 inline with a plan to set up a pilot plant in Yokohama as early as 2025.

"Nissan will continue to evolve its lithium-ion battery technologies and introduce cobalt-free technology to bring down the cost by 65% by fiscal year 2028," the vehicle maker said.

Due to the nature of the solid-state battery, its safety and temperature tolerance will be higher as no liquids or gels are used like those in its lithium-ion cousins. Weight and volume will be reduced too.

Nissan Motor hope the new solid-state technology will lower the cost of battery packs to $75/kWh by FY2028 with aims to further lower it to $65/kWh.

To meet the needs for more EVs, Nissan Motor plans to increase its global battery production capacity to 52 GWh by 2027 and to 130 GWh by 2031.

In early August, battery producer Envision AESC announced a Yen 50 billion investment to build a 6 GWh/year gigafactory near Tokyo to supply to Nissan Motor. The plant is expected to be built in Ibaraki prefecture north of Tokyo, with mass production due to start in 2024.

It was the second gigafactory recently announced by the battery and vehicle makers, after a GBP1 billion ($1.4 billion) investment in Nissan's Electric Vehicle Hub, EV36Zero, in Sunderland, UK, in early July, which includes an initial 9 GWh gigafactory.

The expansion in battery capacity includes plans to establish battery refurbishing facilities beyond Japan with new locations in Europe by 2023, and in the US by 2026.