Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) will spend $115 million for a new lithium-ion battery plant

In a move to catch up with the growing hybrid vehicle and electric vehicle market, Japan’s third largest automobile producer Nissan Motor Company (TYO: 7201) with NEC Corporation (TYO: 6701) announced that their joint venture lithium-ion battery producing company Automotive Energy Supply Corporation will spend $115 million over the next three years in building Nissan’s first battery production line at Nissan’s Zama facility in Kanagawa prefecture. In the beginning, the plant is targeting to produce 13,000 units which will be increased to 65,000 by 2011. The batteries produced will be used in Nissan Motor Company’s hybrid and electric vehicle aimed to be released by 2010. Forbes.com reports:

Nissan (nasdaq: NSANY - news - people ) and NEC (nasdaq: NIPNY - news - people ) last year set up Automotive Energy Supply Corp., a joint venture that aims to capitalise on its parents' technology to develop and produce lithium ion batteries for Nissan and other manufacturers of hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles in the world. Nissan holds a 51 percent stake in the venture and NEC jointly owns the rest with its subsidiary NEC Tokin Corp.

NEC Tokin has separately allocated 11.0 billion yen to build over the next three years its own facility within NEC's Sagamihara plant site in Kanagawa to mass-produce lithium-manganese electrodes for the joint venture by 2009.

Last year, Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) announced its plan to supply batteries for forklift trucks. Nissan is now looking forward to introduce electronic vehicle in Japan, the United States, Israel and Denmarke by 2011. The company will go into mass marketing from 2012. At a news conference, Nissan’s Executive Vice President Carlos Tavares told that Nissan was determined to become a leader in this next shift in global mobility and the advanced battery technology developed by the joint venture was critical to achieve that goal.

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Toyota and General Motors struggle to bring out the first electric car

Planet earth is at stake and the auto-makers need to do something to save the world (and win the consumers!?). So the would be biggest auto-maker of the world and the current-biggest auto-maker come toe to toe in a fight to build the first green car. Toyota and General Motors are struggling to build world’s first environment friendly car. Toyota is rallying with “gas-electric hybrid” and GM with “plug in” electric vehicles. Canada.com reports:

Watanabe announced that Toyota will market a test fleet of rechargeable hybrid vehicles to companies or government agencies by the end of 2010.

The comments were the clearest statement yet from the top Japanese automaker of its commitment to plug-in vehicle technology and amounted to a direct challenge to GM, which won widespread attention at the auto show last year, when it announced plans to build its own rechargeable vehicle, the Volt.

Gas-electric hybrid is a combination of electric power and traditional combustion engine power. Plug in on the contrary, is like a car with a battery that needs to be charged from time to time. The plug ins go short distance. The Volt by GM will run 40 miles on battery power with a back up gasoline engine installed. Troy Clarke, Head of GM’s North American operations, told reporters that his company had been planning to launch a plug in version of its Saturn Vue which might come out before the Volt. The new version will run 10 miles on battery power.

On the other hand, Toyota is going on with the plan to set up a new facility for producing next-generation lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

Now, the million dollar question is, whose going to be the best car? Well, we all have to hold our breath till 2010.

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Canada.com