Japan’s Nissan bets on solidstate batteries, gigacasting

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Japan’s Nissan Motor will begin to produce solidstate batteries for electric vehicles at scale by early 2029 and use huge casting machines as it seeks to raise efficiency and drive down costs on future models, the automaker said on Tuesday.

Nissan is betting on technological advancements to stave off heavy competition from rivals such as Tesla and BYD that have raced ahead in production of batterypowered cars.

Japan’s third-biggest automaker by volume will initially do prototype tests and develop the solid-state batteries at a still unfinished pilot plant in Yokohama, a city near Tokyo where it is based, before building up production capacity. Solid-state batteries are expected to charge faster and last longer than conventional ones.

Nissan expects to make its first solid-state batteries at the site from March 2025 and will deploy 100 workers per shift to step up production to 100 megawatt hours per year from the financial year starting April 2028.

The automaker will also use heavy-force machines to produce the rear floors of EVS to be sold from a year earlier, a process that will lower manufacturing costs by 10 per cent and bring down weight of components by 20 per cent, it said.