NISSAN'S joint venture with electronics maker NEC Corp will invest 12 billion yen (US$115 million) to start mass-producing lithium-ion batteries ?? a technology widely viewed as key for next-generation "green" cars.
Nissan Motor Co executive vice president Carlos Tavares told reporters yesterday the Japanese auto maker wants to be a global leader in "zero-emission vehicles."
Lithium-ion batteries are now more common in laptops and other gadgets, although all the world's major auto makers are working on applying the batteries for their cars.
The new batteries will be more powerful ?? and half the size ?? of nickel-metal hydride batteries that are now commonly used in ecological cars today, Nissan officials said.
Nissan's joint venture called Automotive Energy Supply Corp plans to make advanced lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, hybrids and fuel cells ?? all important technology to reduce pollution as well as gases linked to global warming.
"Nissan firmly believes the ultimate solution for sustainable mobility lies in zero-emission vehicles," Tavares said at a Tokyo hotel.
A plant for the batteries, set to be running by 2009, will have an annual production capacity of 65,000, and starting capacity of 13,000, Nissan said.
The first commercial products with the new batteries are Nissan forklifts in 2009, but electric vehicles for the US and Japanese market will follow in 2010, Tavares said.
Tokyo-based Nissan has been sometimes criticized as falling behind Japanese rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co in ecological technology.
Toyota has a big hit with its gas-electric hybrid, Prius, which has already crossed the 1 million sales mark worldwide over the decade it has been on sale. Honda also has its own hybrid and fuel-cell models.
Nissan has said it will introduce its own hybrid in 2010, besides the electric vehicles planned for the US and Japan.
By 2012, Nissan plans to mass-market electric vehicles to consumers globally. It is also planning to make available on a wide scale zero-emission electric vehicles in Israel and Denmark in 2011.