In what could be a big boost for the Centre's Make in India policy push and call for the building of an Atmanirbhar Bharat, Japanese automobile major Nissan is planning to manufacture electric vehicles (EVs) in India, and may also go on to set up a 'gigafactory' to fuel mass production of batteries, reports Economic Times.
In this direction, the company had launched a study about three months ago, and the same is likely to be completed within a year. As per the company's chief operating officer (COO) Ashwani Gupta, if the study gives the plans a green flag, then the company will be manufacturing EVs in India, for both, domestic and international markets.
Gupta said, "India should do the electric car, right from scratch, with localisation of up to 100 per cent and for that localisation of batteries is so important. For the localisation of EV batteries, we may need a minimum of a gigawatt to set up the battery plant. If we go ahead, India becomes a global hub for EVs."
It should be noted that this comes at a time when Nissan has just announced the setting up of a new gigawatt factory for battery manufacturing in northeast England's Sunderland. The company will also be setting up a microgrid that will supply clean energy to Nissan and its vendor factories.