Nissan is off to a strong start of the week by outlining its electrification agenda for years to come courtesy of 15 pure EVs and eight hybrids scheduled to hit the market by the end of the decade. The 23 electrified models are part of the Nissan Ambition 2030 plan and some models will be sold by Infiniti, Nissan’s premium marque.
To make it all happen, two trillion yen or nearly $18 billion will be invested in the next five years and some of the money will be put to good use by developing solid-state batteries. A pilot program will be up and running as early as 2024 at home in Yokohama, ahead of 2028 when the first production EV with this tech is programmed to go on sale.
Solid-state batteries will cut charging time by 33% and help Nissan bring down the costs with batteries to $75 per kWh by 2028 and to $65 per kWh in the next decade, with the ultimate goal being to make EVs just as affordable to produce as combustion cars. Meanwhile, advancements in lithium-ion batteries will enable Nissan to get rid of cobalt from packs and reduce costs with manufacturing by 65% by 2028.
Aside from improving battery tech, Nissan is also investing heavily in production to support the rollout of these EVs. For this reason, the plan is to boost global output to 52 GWh by 2026 and to 130 GWh by 2030 with the help of its partners around the world.
Also part of the announcement made today is the reveal of four fully electric concepts. The one with the highest chances of reaching production is the Chill-Out as it likely previews the second-generation Leaf due in 2025. The Japanese marque has already disclosed its intentions to turn the compact hatchback into a crossover, so we’re probably looking at it.
Another concept that has some chances of hitting the assembly line in the coming years is a small truck molded after the Surf-Out featured here in a single bed configuration. Nissan says it has dual motors for all-wheel drive to give the compact pickup off-road capabilities, although likely with smaller wheels than those of the concept truck.
The cutesy box on wheels is called Hang-Out and could be the company’s way of indirectly telling us the Cube will make a return. After all, Nissan needs an answer to the Kia Soul EV and a production version of this concept would fit that bill. The brick-shaped EV rides on a bespoke electric car platform as with the other two and features sliding doors both front and rear.
We wouldn’t get our hopes up too high as far as seeing the Max-Out evolving into a production model, but the concept certainly does look interesting. It’s an all-electric sports car with a folding roof and two seats. It boasts an electric motor at the front and another one at the rear to enable AWD, while the battery is mounted in the middle to lower the center of gravity for sharper handling.
Source: Nissan
