Nissan is looking to jumpstart its position in the electric vehicle sector with plans to produce a new kind of EV battery, reports AP News.
The company shared its plans for mass production of EVs during a media tour of an unfinished pilot plant southwest of Tokyo yesterday. While the facility is pretty vacant right now, Nissan intends to launch a pilot production line in March 2025 followed by commercial production beginning in fiscal year 2028.
These EVs will differ from most seen on the market currently, though. Nissan plans to utilize solid-state batteries: a new type of battery technology that would replace corrosive liquids found in most EV batteries with solid metals. Solid-state batteries have been presented as a potentially cheaper, safer, more powerful solution that are faster to charge than lithium-ion batteries.
Nissan isn’t the only one eyeing solid-state batteries. Volkswagen and Toyota have also expressed interest in pursuing solid-state EVs. Toyota plans to bring them to the market around 2027-28.
The company hasn’t yet offered much more detail on the production of these batteries, but has said to have come up with unique materials for producing them, such as a metal form of lithium. Nissan intends to roll out solid-state batteries across a variety of vehicles, including pickup trucks.
“We are finally in the phase of scaling up on our all-solid-state battery line,” said Corporate Vice President Shunichi Inamijima. “Our all-solid-state battery technology is a game-changer for making EV sales grow explosively.”