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Nissan, NEC Form Lithium-ion Battery Partnership

April 16, 2007 by Jeff Shepard

Nissan Motor Co., NEC Corp. and NEC Tokin Corp. announced that they would join forces to produce lithium-ion batteries by 2009 for use in hybrid and other electric vehicles.

According to the companies, lithium-ion batteries, once considered too unsafe and unstable for automotive uses, are now being re-considered as an important component for lowering the high premium consumers and automakers pay for today’s gasoline-electric hybrids as they can store power in a smaller and lighter stack. All commercial hybrids now run on nickel-metal hydride batteries.

"The evolution of battery technology will be a deciding factor in bringing tomorrow’s electric vehicles closer to reality," stated Nissan Senior Vice President Minoru Shinohara. He claimed that Nissan had begun research in the field in 1992, and was the first to apply them in electric and other vehicles. He also stated that the technology behind the partners’ latest lithium-ion battery, which has twice the power of conventional batteries at half the size, was ready, and preparations were now underway for mass production and commercialization.

Once production begins in 2009, the joint venture, to be called Automotive Energy Supply Corp. (AESC) and to be owned half by Nissan, 42.5% by NEC and 7.5% by NEC Tokin, would supply batteries for Nissan’s first internally developed hybrid car planned for launch in 2010.