Nissan to Trim EV Battery Production?

Tepid demand for electric vehicles has prompted Nissan Motor Co. to consider closing its batterymaking plants in the U.K. and U.S. and consolidating output in Japan, according to Reuters, which cites unnamed company sources.

The news service says Nissan also plans to follow alliance partner Renault SA in sourcing lower-cost batteries from South Korea's LG Chem for certain future models, including EVs produced in China.

One of Reuters' sources describes Nissan as 6-12 months behind LG in price-performance. Nissan will decide in October whether to phase out battery production in Sunderland, England, and Smyrna, Tenn., the news service says. It adds that one option being explored would allow LC to produce its own batteries at one of the two factories.

Renault, which owns 34% of Nissan, wants to increase purchases from LG Chem. Nissan prefers to continue using its own capacity, in part to avoid a costly writedown on its factory, according to the news service. It describes a "tense" procurement review between the two companies.

Reuters says Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has separately backed talks with NEC Corp. about dual sourcing.