Nissan's electric future: Between solid-state batteries and Giga press

The company gives new details on its next plans: production of solid-state batteries from 2025 and construction techniques to reduce costs

By: Francesco Barontini

Apr 18, 2024 at 6:03am ET

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Nissan's future (like that of many other manufacturers) is completely electric. The Japanese manufacturer is preparing for the big leap towards the mobility of the future by working on several fronts. And among the most interesting innovations to be introduced are solid-state batteries and new production methods.

These are two aspects of the brand's activities that had already been announced in the past, but on which the company wanted to take stock with a new communication in which it states that it wants to maintain a leading role on the global automotive scene by focusing on cutting-edge technologies.

Solid-state batteries: starting in 2025

Nissan, which is currently the third largest Japanese carmaker in terms of sales volume behind Toyota and Honda, confirms that it intends to introduce solid-state batteries to the market in 2028 and produce them on a large scale from the following year. To be ready, it will soon start pilot lines at a new factory in Yokohama, where it will refine the design of the new cells to bring batteries with higher energy density and faster recharging speed to market.

Nissan Hyper Urban Concept

According to plans, production of the first solid-state batteries will begin in March 2025 and will employ around 100 workers per shift. From then on, production will be gradually increased to around 100 MW per year in April 2028.

Gigacasting to reduce costs, weight and time

Nissan has also said it will radically reorganise its production lines with the introduction of giga presses similar to those already used by Tesla and soon to be used by many other manufacturers.

The mould of the rear bodywork of a Model Y

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This revolution, which will be used to make large body parts of future electric cars in a single mould, will reduce production costs by 10 per cent and save up to 20 per cent in component weight.

"In the end, we decided to use a 6,000-tonne gigacasting machine to make the rear structure of the cars using aluminium casting," said Hideyuki Sakamoto, executive vice-president with responsibility for production and the supply chain.

It will all contribute to Nissan's goal of making a new generation of electric cars that cost 30 per cent less than the current generation and thus achieve cost parity with internal combustion models.