Nissan has long been a leader in electric vehicles, but in recent years it has fallen behind competitors like Tesla and Hyundai-Kia. To regain its position in the market, Nissan is focusing on reducing manufacturing costs for its next-generation electric vehicles. A company official recently announced that these new models will be around 30% cheaper to produce compared to current EVs like the Leaf or the Ariya.
Jérémie Papin, Nissan’s US CEO, explained to Yahoo Finance that the cost savings will be achieved through simplification and greater commonality across models. By using fewer components and sharing more parts across different models, Nissan aims to make its EVs more affordable for consumers.
Nissan needs more and better EVs
Although Nissan’s EVs have not been the most desirable, the company sees increasing sales of the Ariya as a sign that making them more affordable can attract more buyers. By passing on the manufacturing cost savings to consumers, Nissan hopes to make its electric vehicles more appealing in the market.
Papin envisions a future where electric and electrified vehicles will be priced similarly to combustion engine cars by the end of the decade. To achieve this goal, Nissan may need to reconsider its plans to switch entirely to solid-state batteries by 2028, as these batteries are currently expensive to produce. Instead, the company may continue to focus on lithium-ion batteries to achieve the desired cost savings.
While Nissan is still invested in solid-state battery research, it is also setting up a pilot production facility in Japan to experiment with manufacturing solid-state cells and packs. Despite the current higher costs, Nissan believes that solid-state batteries are essential for reducing EV prices and aims to lower the cost per kilowatt hour to $65 by 2028.
Out of the 30 new models planned by Nissan for launch by 2026, 16 will be electrified, although the company has not specified how many will be pure EVs. To remain competitive, Nissan needs to expand its lineup of BEV models beyond the Leaf and Ariya.
The Ariya showed a 44.8% increase in US sales in Q1 2024, while sales of the Leaf declined by over 50% in the same period. Nissan’s upcoming electric pickup truck, expected to arrive in the US towards the end of the decade, will be a joint effort with Mitsubishi. Nissan is also exploring partnerships with Honda to expand its EV offerings.