"Europe will play a key role in the Alliance's global commitment to offer an emission-free future for road transport, and today marks another important step towards that goal," Toshiyuki Shiga, Nissan COO said at the groundbreaking ceremony.
The build will cost Nissan and Renault £210 million, but it's an investment without which all the efforts made in the last few years in the EV sector would have been in vain.
The facility, which will be operational in 2012, will create 200 new and direct jobs, as well as an additional 600 across the UK supply chain. The second battery plant owned by the two carmakers will be located in Cacia, Portugal, with a third battery production hub to be located at Renault's Flins plant in France.
"When operational, the battery plants in both Sunderland and Portugal will support the launch of zero-emission electric vehicles across Europe on an unprecedented scale."
The steps taken this year are meant to support the launch of the Leaf later this year. Production of the first mass-produced electric vehicle will begin at Nissan's Oppama Plant in Japan, followed by the addition of a production line in Sunderland.
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