Nissan Motor Company has announced plans to produce electric vehicles (EV) at its Oppama Plant in Japan from next year as collaborative partnerships are put in place globally.

The Oppama Plant is a core base of Nissan’s manufacturing and will be positioned as the model plant for best practices in EV production.

In the autumn of 2010, the plant will start EV production with capacity of 50,000 units a year, which will continuously increase for the start of EV mass-marketing in 2012, said a company statement.

The motors and inverters, which are key components of EVs, will be built at the Yokohama Plant (Takara-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa), and initially in the Zama Operations Center (Hironodai, Zama City, Kanagawa), respectively.

In addition, the automotive energy supply corporation (AESC), one of Nissan’s affiliated companies based in Zama Operations Center, will produce laminated-type compact lithium-ion batteries for EVs, the statement added.

As part of this EV strategy, Nissan and Europcar – the European leader in passenger car and light utility vehicle rentals - are forming a partnership to market electric vehicles and advance zero-emission mobility on a global scale.

This partnership between Europcar Groupe and Nissan is unique in the vehicle rental market and gives substance to Europcar’s commitment to raise the awareness of its customers concerning environmental issues.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance has begun ZEV initiatives in 12 countries around the world. In the United States, the Alliance is exploring ways to promote zero-emission mobility and the development of an EV infrastructure in six states.-TradeArabia News Service