Nissan investing nearly $18B on electric vehicle batteries

Nissan announced that it will invest nearly $18 billion over the next five years in developing electric vehicle batteries, The Associated Press reported Monday.

Nissan Motor Co. chief executive Makoto Uchida said the company’s new initiative is focused on cutting emissions and meeting customer needs on electric vehicles, adding it will reduce carbon emissions use at factories as well.

“Nissan Ambition 2030” aims for a 50 percent electrification of the automaker’s lineup. Uchida said that 15 electric vehicles will be available by the fiscal year of 2030, according to the AP. 

Nissan’s latest initiative rests on the development of a new all-solid-state battery, which the company categorized as “a breakthrough,” as it is both a cheaper alternative and generates more power than current batteries in use. 

The company plans to hire 3,000 engineers to strengthen its research on digital technology.

The announcement comes amid the ongoing fallout from the scandal of former CEO Carlos Ghosn, who led the Yokohama, Japan-based automaker for two decades before he was arrested in Tokyo in 2018 on multiple financial misconduct charges. Ghosn later fled the country.