Production of Nissan LEAF starts in Japan

The production of the Nissan LEAF has started at the Japanese brand facility in Oppama. The all-new 100% electric, zero-emission car will arrive in the Japanese and US markets in December. The selected Europesn markets will have to wait until the beginning of 2011 to see the first LEAFs. November marks the start of exports to the United States, followed by shipments to Europe in December.

"This is a significant milestone, not only for Nissan and the Renault-Nissan Alliance, but also for the entire automotive industry," said Nissan President and CEO Carlos Ghosn at the Nissan LEAF offline ceremony.  "Consumers are clear. They want sustainable and affordable mobility...and the Alliance is leading the way with cars that deliver exactly that, with the reliability, excitement and performance that consumers demand.  The high-quality, innovative Nissan LEAF will radically transform what consumers expect from automobile manufacturers worldwide."

Alongside the Nissan LEAF, the Oppama Plant is also responsible for the production of the Nissan Juke and Nissan Cube. For the production of the first EV of the brand the assembly line has been modified to mount battery modules at the stage of production where fuel tanks are traditionally installed. The motors and inverters are mounted at the point where engines are installed in gasoline-powered vehicles.

The lithium-ion battery modules that feature in the Nissan LEAF are manufactured at the Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) operation in Zama, Japan, which is a joint-venture of Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and NEC Corporation. Each module, containing 4 battery cells, is assembled at Zama and then shipped to the Nissan Oppama facility, where 48 of them are fitted into the electric car's battery pack.

Hidetoshi Imazu, Executive Vice President of Manufacturing, said, "Oppama will serve as the ‘Mother Plant' for the production of Nissan LEAF.  We will use all of the know-how and learnings from Oppama to ensure the highest quality at all sites that manufacture Nissan EVs."

In the future the Nissan LEAF will also be produced in Smyrna, Tennessee, in the United States and Sunderland, England, in the UK.

The annual production capacity at the Oppama plant is 50,000 units. The production at Smyrna is predicted to start in the end of 2012 and at Sunderland in the beginning of 2013. At their maximum capacity Smyrna will be able to produce 150,000 units per year, and Snderland 50,000 units.