Nissan Expounds On Electric Vehicle Plans
Wow, Nissan sure has been busy lately bringing their fleet of vehicles into the 21st century. Following their recent announcement of new fuel injector technology and approval for a $1.6 billion U.S. Department of Energy loan, they have laid out in detail what’s coming in the near future. The company’s plan will give the Japanese automaker a strong position in the global automarket.
The Department of Energy loan was allocated entirely to retooling their Smyrna, Tennessee-based production facility to produce electric and hybrid vehicles. It turns out that the majority of that loan, and even $1 billion, will be used to create three production lines at the facility for the production of lithium-ion battery packs. Each of these lines will, once they reach full capacity, produce 54,000 battery packs per year. The remaining $600 million will be used to retool the vehicle assembly line so that it can produce hybrid and electric cars. A lot of the assembly line, like the parts that install body panels and interior components, won’t need to be changed too much, but the machinery required to install electric motors and large battery packs is very different from teh machines needed to install internal combustion engines and traditional drive axles.
Nissan has also announced that the Smyrna, Tennessee won’t be the only big change in their production strategy. A Japanese plant was previously announced and will open in 2010, and the company will also be creating a string of European production facilities with the French automaker Renault with a planned opening date of 2011. One of the main reasons for a European facility is the weight of battery packs. Larger lithium-ion packs, like those required for purely electric vehicles, can easily weigh in at over 1,000 pounds. Shipping the necessary number of battery packs to Europe from either the U.S. or Japanese facilities would be very expensive, so the costs of creating new plants in Europe will probably be more profitable within the span of a couple years. This plan is in line with may other global automakers who have begun expanding their worldwide operations. The move will certainly please local governments (the facilities will employ local labor and contribute to local tax revenues), and the spread out production will lower transportation costs and import/export fees, making vehicles cheaper in the dealer showrooms.
July 27th, 2009 at 1:10 am
Nice article.