Nissan to set up EV battery plants in Japan, Britain - Nikkei

FILE PHOTO: A man is silhouetted at a show room of Nissan Motor Co. in Tokyo, Japan, February 12, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-hoon

(Reuters) -Nissan Motor Co will partner with China-based battery maker Envision AESC group to build new battery plants for electric vehicles in Japan and United Kingdom and will invest over 200 billion yen ($1.82 billion), Nikkei reported https://s.nikkei.com/34qpSwG on Friday.

The Japanese automaker will start turning out batteries in two new plants as early as 2024, aiming for total capacity sufficient to power 700,000 EVs per year, the report said.

"Nissan will continue to accelerate electrification toward carbon neutrality, however we have no further plans to announce at this time," Nissan spokeswoman said.

Batteries are one of the costliest components of EVs as raw materials account for the largest part of the cost.

To save costs, the Japanese automaker's alliance partner Renault Chief Executive Luca de Meo said this month the two companies are in talks to collaborate more by using the same battery technology, and Gupta said they have agreed on the common specifications of batteries.

($1 = 109.8500 yen)

(Reporting by Sabahatjahan Contractor in Bengaluru, Eimi Yamamitsu in Tokyo;Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Louise Heavens)

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