Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Nissan, NEC Charging $115 Million for Battery Factory

Nissan Motor Co. and technology conglomerate NEC Corp. have joined forces to create Automotive Energy Supply Corporation. AESC is a joint venture between the two companies as an effort to beat other companies to the eventual Electric and Plug-in Hybrid Car Market. The $115 million dollar investment in a factory by the two companies will have the capability to produce 65,000 Li-Ion Electric Car batteries by 2011. Just recently, Nissan announced they'll have a Plug-in Hybrid available to the US Market in 2010.

Nissan has mostly sit on the sidelines while their two main competitors have profited greatly from Hybrid Vehicles. Toyota just announced that they have sold 1 million Prius Hybrids since they've debuted in Japan in 1997 and worldwide in 2001. Honda has plans to release the Honda FCX Clarity fuel-cell vehicle next summer.

This could be a large advantage for Nissan as other car companies are racing to find suppliers for Li-Ion batteries as we jump into the Electric vehicle era. The great question that everyone is asking is what will the price of these vehicles be and will they be affordable enough to trade in that gas guzzler for something fuel efficient and safe for the environment.

No comments: