Nissan Motor will invest JPY 2 trillion (USD 17.6 billion) over the next five years to accelerate its electric vehicle sales, the company announced Monday.
Nissan unveiled its “Nissan Ambition 2030” plan outlining its long-term vision and investment strategy for battery development and future electric car rollouts.
“Nissan is placing electrification at the center of our strategy toward ‘Nissan Ambition 2030,'” said Makoto Uchida, the company’s president and CEO, in an online news conference.
The Japanese carmaker will invest an additional JPY 2 trillion in electrification technologies, including electric vehicles and hybrids, over the next five years and hopes to introduce 23 new electrified models, including 15 new EVs. Nissan wants 50% of its sales to be of electrified vehicles by 2030.
So far, Nissan has spent JPY 1 trillion since 2010, including investment in powertrains and charging infrastructure.
To expand the market for electric cars, batteries will be “the key” to moving to full electrification, said Uchida. To secure a stable supply of batteries, Nissan will work with its partners to reach a production capacity of 130 gigawatt-hours globally by 2030.
The company will also speed up development of all-solid-state batteries. Uchida said the company aims to set up a pilot production line at its plant in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, by 2024 and to market the first such battery in 2028.
All-solid-state batteries are widely considered more stable and safer than the lithium-ion batteries currently used to power electric cars. Lithium-ion batteries are prone to catch fire.
Uchida said that the new batteries will take a third as long to charge as those of today, adding that the goal is to lower battery costs to USD 65 per kilowatt-hour. This would enable the company to achieve cost parity between EV and gasoline vehicles, speeding the shift to electric cars.
This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It’s republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.