Nissan is investing heavily to become a mass producer of advanced lithium-ion batteries by as early as next year.
The lithium-ion batteries are a result of a partnership established in early 2007 with NEC Corp. and subsidiary NEC Tokin Corp., that together comprise the Automotive Energy Supply Corp.
AESC will invest over $128 million dollars over a three year period toward its battery development and will allocate roughly $144 million to building a new Japanese-based manufacturing facility.
Separately, NEC Tokin has set aside $105 million to upgrade its existing Sagamihara battery plant for further production.
AESC batteries will use a thinner and lighter laminated cell design compared to existing nickel-metal hydride batteries and are said to deliver twice the power of NiMH units. To combat the overheating nature of lithium ion batteries, manganese cathodes were employed by engineers in the space efficient design.
In a recent interview with Automotive News, Automotive Energy Supply Senior Vice President Masahiko Otsuka stated that the co-developed batteries will offer hybrid, electric and fuel-cell vehicles an amazing single charge range of 124 miles. We'll believe it when we see it, of course.
AESC is looking to sell their battery technology to other automakers in order to increase demand and in doing so, is looking to become a leader in lithium-ion battery production.
According to many automakers, lithium-ion power supplies are not only more powerful than other batteries, but are highly efficient and can be packaged to be significantly lighter than NiMh batteries.
Toyota, Chevrolet and Mitsubishi have been developing their lithium-ion powered vehicles for several years and are looking to debut their next generation of electric cars by as soon as 2010, with GM's Volt project commanding the most attention on the world stage.
Contrastingly, Honda Motor Corp., president Takeo Fukui stated last March that his company will not use lithium-based batteries in their hybrid and electric cars anytime soon due to the overheating and reliability issues.
Nissan plans to produce around 13,000 batteries per year initially in 2009, with production growing steadily to 65,000 units per year by 2011.
The first run of advanced lithium batteries is slated for use in Nissan's forklift operations in 2009 and will later be incorporated in electric and hybrid vehicles slated for the U.S. and Japan by 2010, the same year GM is planning to roll out the production Volt.
Alternative fuel cars in Denmark and Israel will follow in 2011 as a part of the Project Better Place venture being undertaken in conjunction with Renault.
A full range of electric vehicles for world markets is expected from Nissan by 2012 that is likely to include versions of Nissan's Denki Cube concept (below) and current Altima hybrid models.
Source: Automotive News (Subscription required) and Nissan Motor Corp.