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Home | Green Cars News | Business | Nissan, NEC Invest $1.1B to Increase Li-ion Battery Supply

Nissan, NEC Invest $1.1B to Increase Li-ion Battery Supply

29 December, 2008 03:40:00

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Nissan Motor Co. and NEC Corp Corporation announced that they would invest about $1.1 billion in their joint venture to boost manufacturing capacity of lithium-ion batteries for about 200,000 electric and hybrid cars annually in 2011 or later.

Nissan, NEC and NEC Tokin have an Automotive Energy Supply Corp. (AESC) joint venture to start manufacturing lithium-ion batteries from next year. The companies plan to manufacture 13,000 batteries a year, which will be first be used in forklifts.

Future plans include the increase of the manufacturing capacity that will reach 65,000 units a year, starting 2011for use in Nissan's in-house hybrid car and electric vehicles due in 2010.

According to Nikkei business daily, the companies plan to invest an even larger amount of money in order to increase the production capacity.

Automotive Energy Supply Corporation considering setting up factories both in the United States and Europe, as a venture’s representative stated that the governments in these countries offer important support for companies that manufacture environmental-friendly technologies.

Nissan and its carmaker partner, Renault, have already developed some electric and hybrid concept-cars. An executive at the French company stated that the venture between NEC and Nissan had planned to build a facility in France in order to supply batteries to Renault’s electric car models.

Toyota and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. each have a joint venture to develop and produce lithium-ion batteries for car use with Matsushita Electric and GS Yuasa Corp.

Earlier this month, Honda and Japanese battery maker GS Yuasa have agreed to form a joint venture to make high-performance lithium-ion batteries primarily for hybrid vehicles.

[source: Reuters]