Nissan's CEO Carlos Ghosn announced late last week that his company along with partner Renault are equipped and ready to produce up to 500,000 batteries for EVs annually. The companies will hold off production numbers until market condition determine the need for such output, but the capability will be there when the time comes.
The Nissan Leaf will go on sale next year with a scheduled global release in 2012. The global release will be on a mass production scale and Nissan has secured production of batteries to meet demand.
As CEO Ghosn said, "We have the loans, we have the agreements with different governments and we are engaging 500,000 batteries." Ghosn did not commit to a date to reach the target number of one half million units, but did announce the companies abilities to reach production numbers. Nissan and partner Renault have several EVs in the works in the coming years and will likely need hundreds of thousands of batteries to support their large rollout.
According to Ghosn, Nissan is committed to bringing electric vehicles to the masses at an affordable price. As Ghosn said, " I will not sell an electric car that is 25 percent more expensive than a gasoline powered one"
Ghosn has stated before that Nissan will be the worldwide leader in EV technology. He has also focused on low prices for EV to reach a mass market. With innovative technology at an affordable price, Nissan could indeed lead the way.
Source: Reuters
