New LEAF battery plant in Portugal, also Blink production starts up

Electric cars need batteries

Nissan has plans to supply batteries for their electric vehicles (EVs) from sources throughout the world. The current source for the Nissan LEAF battery pack is Zama, Japan with capacity of 90,000 battery packs. Over the next two years, additional production will come online globally – 200,000 in Smyrna, Tennessee, 100,000 in Flins, France, 60,000 in Sunderland, United Kingdom, and this new plant just announced in Cacia, Portugal which is slated to produce 50,000 battery packs. For those not keeping track, this will provide the capacity to produce 500,000 battery packs on an annual basis. This capacity is destined to supply batteries for both parties in the Renault-Nissan alliance. As demand continues to ramp up for EVs, Nissan seems well positioned to be able to meet this growing demand.

In other battery related news, ECOtality announced that Roush Manufacturing of Livonia, Michigan has started full production line assembly of ECOtality’s Level 2 charging stations. ECOtality is managing the EV Project, scheduled to place almost 15,000 Level 2 charging stations in EV owners garages along with publicly accessible areas as part of a U.S. Department of Energy program.