Nissan begins construction of Li-ion battery plant in Portugal
11 February 2011
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., has begun construction of an advanced lithium-ion battery plant in Cacia, Portugal to support the rollout of electric vehicles from the Renault-Nissan Alliance in Europe.
The battery plant is being built on a 30,450-square meter plot of land belonging to the Renault CACIA gearbox assembly plant following an investment of €156 million (US$211 million).
The facility will start operations in December 2012 and will have a total capacity of 50,000 units a year. About 200 jobs are expected to be created by the new plant.
Replacing an ICE vehicle gear box plant with a Lithium batteries plant would be good forward planning. Is that the end decision?
Nissan-Renault may need half a dozen such plants in the not too distant future.
Posted by: HarveyD | 11 February 2011 at 08:08 AM
Nice to see new manufacturing construction for BEVs. If we draw the analogy of EVs to iPhones or Pads, we can expect to see interesting third party "applications" supporting these products.
Expect entertainment and nav packages to be amongst the first aftermarket options for EV owners. Followed by power electronics upgrades to tweak extra go out of your EV's motor.
All together a healthy new market in sustainable transportation is being invented.
Posted by: Reel$$ | 11 February 2011 at 09:33 AM
Reel$$. 10.2 inch made in China touch screen color ipad equivalents are already on sale in HK for $134.02 USD including the 3200 mAh lithium battery, Webcam, Wi-FI, Android 2.2 software etc.
If BEVs follow the same price curve, a Tata BEV (or equivalent) may not cost more than $7K within 24 months. Basic units without A/C, fancy electronic systems, multiple crash protection etc may cost less than $5K.
Posted by: HarveyD | 11 February 2011 at 02:53 PM
"If BEVs follow the same price curve"
You're insane if you even remotely believe that ;)
Cars and batteries are not like electronics.
Posted by: Arne | 14 February 2011 at 03:02 AM