Nissan is reported to have shipped the first batch of its Australian-made Leaf electric vehicle components to Japan this week.
Manufactured at the Nissan Casting Australia Plant in Dandenong, Victoria, the components include the inverter case, inverter water jacket and water jacket cover for the Leaf and related EVs, The Motor Report said.
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The news followed an announcement in 2011 that Nissan Australia would produce international components for the Leaf, along with accessories for the brand’s Australian-delivered 4WDs and passenger cars.
Nissan closed its car plant (once Volkswagen’s) in Victoria state in 1994 but retained the foundry operation.
Nissan Australia boss Bill Peffer said the new electric vehicle components are part of more than two million components and accessories produced at the Dandenong plant annually.
The Leaf components use new casting technologies developed in Victoria by the CSIRO and the Centre for Applied Special Technology (CAST) Co-operative Research Centre (CRC).
The plant’s global manufacturing arrangement with Nissan headquarters in Japan is expected to produce around A$160m in export revenue.
The agreement was secured with support from the Federal Green Car Innovation Fund, along with funding from the Victorian government’s Business Assistance Grant.
Nissan itself plans to invest $21m in the manufacturing of electric vehicle components at Dandenong.
