Nissan to build £200 million Sunderland factory

Carmaker Nissan announced yesterday that it has chosen sites in the UK and Portugal for its first two European factories to produce lithium-ion batteries.Nissan plans to spend £200million extending its Wearside factory, near Sunderland to start producing batteries for electric cars.The move could pave the way for the production of electric vehicles at the North East plant in the near future.

Lithium-ion is the main battery technology currently being adopted by most manufacturers of electric and hybrid vehicles; it is used in the Tesla Roadster, for example, which went on sale last year and is generally considered to be one of the first truly practical electric vehicle designs. The British and Portuguese plants will each have an annual production capacity of 60,000 units.

Announcing the deal, Gordon Brown said: "Sunderland could now be a strong contender to produce electric vehicles for Nissan in Europe, and we will continue to work with Nissan to ensure this happens."