19/05/08

Nissan-Nec partnership: the first li-ion batteries in 2009

The new plant will annually produce 65 thousand units fit for hybrid and electric-powered vehicles

The race to new generation batteries for electric-powered cars has achieved a further target. By investing 12 billion yen (72 million euros) in three years’ time Nissan and Nec have started a joint-venture company (51% of the capital controlled by the car company, 42% and 7% by Nec and its subsidiary Tokin) for the li-ion battery production, which has just come on-stream.

AESC, the name of the new enterprise, will focus on the development and mass production of batteries to be used on a large scale in the car industry for hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles as well as for electric ones. The plant, which will stand near Nissan’s Zama facility in the Kanagawa Prefecture, will begin full operations by 2009 with a starting production capacity of 13 thousand units a year that will gradually reach 65 thousand. In order to back the production Nec Tokin will make a three-year investment of 11 billion yen (105 million US dollars) in the Nec Sagamihara factory, for the mass production of lithium-manganese electrodes by 2009.

The targets, however, are far-reaching and they will not be confined to the Renault-Nissan group vehicles. Actually, the AESC plans to cater to the needs of other car-makers worldwide and to be a leader in the sector. The first applications will be for forklifts next year, but later they will be introduced on pure electric cars in the USA and Japan as well as on a new hybrid by 2010.

“Electric-powered vehicles represent one of the strategies illustrated in the Nissan Green Programme 2010' mid-term environmental action plan – said Carlos Tavares, executive vice president of Nissan. “NEC’s expertise in developing safe and low-cost lithium-manganese batteries combined with NEC TOKIN’s strength in electrode-material technology and production will contribute significantly to AESC’s competitiveness. By promoting AESC’s batteries for wide-scale vehicle application, NEC is doing the best globally for the environment by contributing to help reduce CO2 emissions,’’ said Konosuke Kashima, Executive Vice President of NEC.
The next steps of the joint-venture company, besides, envisage the cooperation with Shai Agassi for the “Project Better Place” plan, involving, thanks to Nissan and Renault Alliance, an enormous investment for the first wide-scale deployment of zero emission vehicles in Israel and Denmark. And, in this case, it is not a matter of mere eco-incentives but of a real effort to set up infrastructures as well as economy and energy models (500 thousand recharging ‘pumps’) able to support battery-powered vehicles.
Also in Japan things are moving ahead: the government of Kanagawa Prefecture has just reached an agreement with Nissan for a similar project whose target is to introduce at least 3 thousand zero emission cars by 2014 through subsidies and tax exemptions. “We intend to achieve a sustainable mobility solution with the “Kanagawa Model”, which can be replicated at the national and global levels,” commented Shigefumi Matsuzawa, the governor of Kanagawa Prefecture. Finally, we cannot miss to remind that Nissan has been given an important Spanish award for the installation of the largest industrial photovoltaic plant in Spain, which has helped the country prevent the emissions of 381 tons of CO2 and generate 928,000 kw-h.