Nissan has started construction at its 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 metre plot of land belonging to the Renault CACIA gearbox assembly plant following an investment of EUR156m (US$211m). 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.
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It will join the alliance’s other European battery plant in the UK, next to the Nissan assembly plant in Sunderland which will produce 60,000 units a year, and Renault’s battery plant in Flins, France which will have a total production capacity of 100,000 units a year.
Nissan COO Toshiyuki Shiga said: “The Cacia plant will be one of three facilities in Europe supplying batteries to electric vehicles produced by the alliance, starting with the Leaf. Together, the three plants will enable the alliance to roll out electric vehicles in Europe on an unprecedented scale, bringing the world one step closer to a zero-emission future.”
Renault’s Cacia plant, 244 km north of Lisbon, was chosen as the site for the new battery facility because of its easy access to road, rail, sea and air transportation. The project also benefitted from support from the Portuguese government.
In 2008, Portugal became the first country in Europe to partner with the alliance for zero-emission mobility. The country is building an extensive network of charging stations and this summer expects to have installed 1,350 units, including 50 quick chargers.
