Japanese automaker Nissan plans to invest $1.4bn in building a battery Gigafactory in the UK to accelerate the development of the electric vehicle (EV) market in the country.
The 9GWh plant will be able to produce batteries for about 100,000 electric cars per year, according to media reports. Part of the investment is being made by Envision, a Chinese holding firm, which also recently partnered with Renault for a Gigafactory in France.
The new plant is expected to create about 6,200 jobs when at full scale. Nissan intends to spend up to $580mn on research and development for its third EV. It currently retails the Leaf and Qashqai as part of its EV line-up in the UK.