The Nissan LEAF, a pure electric vehicle, will be manufactured at Nissan’s Sunderland plant from 2013. In July 2009, it was confirmed that the same plant will be responsible for manufacturing the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries from 2012. The production of the vehicle and the batteries represents a total investment of more than £420 million and will help to maintain 2,250 jobs at Nissan and across the UK supply chain.
On the announcement, senior vice president of Nissan Motor Company Andy Palmer, said, “Thanks to the UK’s firm commitment to a low carbon future in terms of infrastructure, customer incentives and educational programmes, Nissan LEAF will be built at Sunderland, making the UK the third country in the world to produce this revolutionary car.”
The investment demonstrates industry’s commitment to ultra-low carbon technology and the significant role the UK can play in becoming a world-leader in this field.Electric vehicles, clean diesels, efficient internal combustion engines and hybrids are being developed by manufacturers looking to reduce average fleet CO2 emissions. Through improvements in conventional technology and maintaining investment in alternative fuels, new car CO2 emissions have dropped by 21.1% since 1997.
Download the New Car CO2 Report 2010.
