After Reliance Industries announced its plans to set up not one giga-factory but 4, Nissan Motor Corporation has revealed that it is exploring the possibility of setting up such a facility in India.
Global COO and CPO, Nissan Motor, Ashwani Gupta, said that the carmaker commissioned a study about three months ago to see if it can locally manufacture electric vehicles in India.
The study, which is likely to be concluded within a year, will also cover the viability of building a giga-factory to manufacture electric vehicle (EV) battery packs in India.
Once the study results are in and the plan gets the go-ahead, then the Nissan gigafactory could well be built in India, and electric vehicles will also be made here for domestic and export markets.
Gigafactories are already being planned for Sunderland, UK, and Nissan will develop a microgrid that will supply energy to Nissan and its vendor factories in the UK.
According to Gupta, switching to EVs is “not a 1 day story”, for there are many challenges, and the three most important ones are battery manufacturing, charging infrastructure, and power source.
He, however, said India “has a great opportunity” to address all the above-mentioned challenges as transition to EVs happens over a period of time.
Speaking about future models for India, the Nissan Global COO said the Japanese firm has already started working on new vehicles to be sold here. These will include electrified cars.
The brand tasted success with the Magnate after a while and wants to continue the positive trend. Thus, the global chairman of Nissan Motor is expected to visit India this year and announce the brand’s new roadmap for the country.