Nissan unveiled the plan to transition to 100% EV offerings in Europe late on Monday night (25 September).
The decision will be supported by an investment programme of more than €40m across the Nissan Design Europe (NDE) in London and the Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE) in Bedford with more than €26m invested just in electrification projects.
“EV is the ultimate mobility solution. More than a million customers have already joined our journey and experienced the fun of a Nissan electric vehicle, and there is no turning back now,” said Makoto Uchida, Nissan President and CEO.
“EVs powered by renewables are key to us achieving carbon neutrality, which is central to our Ambition 2030 vision. Nissan will make the switch to full electric by 2030 in Europe – we believe it is the right thing to do for our business, our customers and for the planet.”
Just last week UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed a five-year delay on the ban on new petrol and diesel car sales. This was set for 2030 under Boris Johnson but will now be amended to 2035. This is aligned with dates in the EU and many US states. This announcement, followed by numerous other green policy scale backs has been widely criticised by green groups, carmakers and the public.
The European EV market continues to grow at a pace. Between 2018 and 2022 EV sales rose from 5% of the total market to 44%, while all-electric vehicles rose from 1% to 12%.
For Nissan, EVs represent 16% of total sales in Europe, while total electrified sales account for 50%. Over the coming three years, the carmaker expects these levels to reach 98%.
Under the Nissan Ambition 2030, Nissan is introducing 27 EV models, including 19 EVs, by 2030. In the same timeframe, Nissan will also introduce cobalt-free technology to bring down the cost of EV batteries by 65% by 2028. Cobalt is a key component in EV production and Bloomberg has forecast that the global demand for cobalt could increase more than 47-fold by 2030. However, almost two-thirds of the world’s cobalt is currently sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and, as such, is classed as a conflict material.
Nissan expects its proprietary all-solid-state batteries (ASSB) alternative to bring the cost of battery packs down to $75 per kWh by 2028 and aims to bring it further down to $65 per kWh to achieve cost parity with petrol and diesel vehicles in the future.
In 2021, Nissan announced plans to transform its flagship Sunderland manufacturing facility into a £1bn EV hub that will feature a 9GWh battery production gigafactory – the first of its kind in the UK.