NEC to Expand Sagamihara Lithium Ion Battery Facility for Nissan

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Last August, NEC Energy Devices Limited (Sagamihara, Japan), a spin-off of NEC Corporation (TYO:6701) (Tokyo, Japan) subsidiary NEC TOKIN, began constructing a lithium-ion battery (LiB) production facility in Sagmihara City, which is approximately 30 kilometers southwest of Tokyo in the Kanagawa prefecture. When completed sometime during the next second quarter, the facility will have a production capacity of 65,000 cars' worth of LiB per year for use in Nissan's "Leaf" electric vehicle (EV). For more information, see June 11, 2010, article - Nissan Turns Over a New 'Leaf' with NEC Lithium Ion Batteries.

NEC Energy Devices is already planning to expand the Sagamihara production site in four phases between 2011 and 2014, due to the projected growth in the EV and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) industries. Obayashi Corporation (TYO:1802) (Tokyo, Japan) will be join NEC's construction efforts starting next second quarter. Obayashi is one of Japan's top five construction companies and is well-known for many projects domestically and abroad. NEC plans to have the expansion completed by late 2014 and will invest a total of $69 million in the projects, with all lithium-ion batteries produced going to Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (Zama, Japan), a joint venture between NEC Corporation, NEC TOKIN, and Nissan Motor Company Limited (TYO:7201) (Yokohama, Japan).

NEC is planning to begin the expansion soon after the original site begins operations, proposing a kickoff during the late second quarter. Each phase, which will occur from the second quarter to the fourth quarter between 2011 and 2014, will bolster the Sagamihara's production capacity by adding 20,000 cars worth of LiB per year. NEC has hinted that further expansions are on the drawing board and plans to have a final production capacity of 225,000 cars' worth of LiB per year sometime in 2018.

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