Renault-Nissan: Portuguese battery plant construction starts

Nissan has officially begun the construction of the state-of-the-art, advanced lithium-ion battery plant in Cacia. The plant located in Portugal will support the Renault-Nissan Alliance production of electric vehicles.

The plant will be built in a plot of land that belongs to Renault CACIA gearbox assembly plant. With an investment of 156 million euros the 30,450-square meter plot will be occupied by the battery plant that should start operating in December 2012. The factory should generate 200 jobs and will have a total capacity of 50,000 units a year.

"The Cacia plant will be one of three facilities in Europe supplying batteries to electric vehicles produced by the Alliance, starting with the 100% electric Nissan LEAF. Together, the three plants will enable the Alliance to rollout electric vehicles in Europe on an unprecedented scale, bringing the world one step closer to a zero-emission future," said Nissan's Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga, speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The Portuguese plant will be one of only three battery suppliers built in Europe and its production will be used on the Fluence Z. The other two plants will be located in Sunderland, United Kingdom and Flins, France and will have total productions of 60,000 and 100,000 units a year respectively.

Portugal was in 2008 the first country in Europe to celebrate a partnership with the Alliance for zero-emission mobility. Over the last three years the country has built an extensive network of charging stations and this summer expects to have installed 1,350 units across the nation, including 50 quick chargers.

In December Nissan delivered the first European Leafs to the Portuguese electric mobility consortium MOBI.E and one to the Portuguese government, before the official launch to individual customers.