Further investment from Nissan, Envision AESC UK and Sunderland City Council, is helping to supercharge the North East as a net zero leader.
The unveiling of EV36Zero – a £1billion Electric Vehicle (EV) Hub to accelerate the journey to carbon neutrality – was released today and brings welcome news to the automotive sector, securing the future for many of the supply chain and reaffirming the region’s position as the UK’s leading location for vehicle electrification.
As part of the £1 billion announcement, Nissan will invest up to £423 million to produce a new-generation, all-electric crossover, to be built at the Sunderland plant.
In a further show of strength, Envision AESC, world-leading battery producer and long-standing partner of Nissan, will invest £450 million to build a new 9GWh-capacity Gigafactory on the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP), adjacent to the Nissan plant, powered by renewable energy and pioneering, next-generation, battery technology.
Bringing this ecosystem together, Sunderland City Council is leading a project that aims to deliver a 100% renewable electricity ‘Microgrid’, that will save 55,000 tonnes of carbon annually and setting a blueprint for the future of the automotive industry.
Paul Butler, CEO at the North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA), said: “Today’s announcement is fantastic news for the region, it not only secures the future of Nissan, the UK’s largest vehicle manufacturing facility in the UK and its supply chain, but puts the North East firmly at the forefront of the electrification agenda.”
These announcements follow other recent investments.
In June, Turntide Transport acquired NEAA member lithium-ion battery manufacturer, AVID Technology Group, Hyperdrive Innovation, and BorgWarner Gateshead, to accelerate existing technologies and capabilities and to reduce energy use and cost for commercial transportation services.
In May, Peak Resources announced the Tees Valley as its location for its £112million processing plant, to produce rare earth products that are critical for electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies.
In December, Britishvolt announced Northumberland as the location for its £2.6billion Gigaplant, one of the largest ever industrial investments in the UK and the largest in the North East since Nissan.
Paul Butler, added: “No other region in the UK can compare to our electrification credentials. Our electrification heritage dates back to the 1920s and, today, the region is home to Europe’s most successful Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), the Nissan LEAF, Europe’s first Giga battery manufacturing facility at Envision AESC’s current site and we are the only UK region with full power electronics, motors and drives capability, producing over 1million electric motors per annum. The announcements, over the past six months, further enhance this capability and we look forward to a bright future, driving the UK’s road to NetZero 2050.”
The North East also boasts leading research capabilities. The UK’s Driving the Electric Revolution (DER) programme is being led by Newcastle University, which will see the establishment of the DER Industrialisation Centre North East. The Advanced Propulsion Centre, funded by the UK Government to make the UK a centre of excellence for the research, development and production of low carbon propulsion technology, has an electric machine spoke at Newcastle University. In total, 17 of the 21 automotive related research centres in the North East are focused on electrification.
Professor Matt Boyle, OBE, Chair of the NEAA and managing director of Turntide Transport, commented: “Electrification is a key part of the Government’s Net Zero by 2050 strategy. The North East of England, with its manufacturing heritage, is at the forefront in developing the technologies to support decarbonisation and is clearly leading the drive for Net Zero.”
“Our vision is that the North East becomes the location of choice for electrification investment in Europe and recognised as a true, automotive powerhouse, with a very dynamic, forward looking and competitive supply chain and strengths in research, development and innovation in new automotive technologies and manufacturing processes. Today’s announcements from Nissan and Envision AESC are a major step to realising this vision.”
