nissan in talks with panasonic, others to sell battery operations: sources - lithium batteries for sale
TOKYO (Reuters)-
Nissan Motor Co. , Ltd. 7201. T)
With Panasonic company (6752. T)
Sources say overseas companies, including Chinese companies, may sell a controlling stake in car battery makers.
Two people familiar with the matter said Saturday that the Japanese carmaker wants to sell a 51% stake in auto energy supply, which makes lithium-
Ion batteries for electric vehicles.
The company is jointly owned by NEC (6701. T).
Nikkei reported Friday that Nissan wants to sell the company because it would be cheaper to buy electric car batteries from other manufacturers, including the Leaf model.
The newspaper did not state where the information was obtained.
Nissan said in an email that talking about sales "is speculation, not based on any of our announcements ".
Spokesmen for Panasonic and NEC declined to comment.
Competition for electric vehicle battery supply is intensifying as more and more low-emission cars are expected to be produced in the coming years. Tesla Motors (TSLA. O)
The company, which currently purchases batteries from Panasonic for its electric vehicles, plans to increase its total vehicle production to 500,000 units in 2018.
Two years ahead of the original target.
Nissan and Renault (RENA. PA)
Under the leadership of Carlos Ghosn, the head of the two companies, electric cars bet more than mainstream competitors.
The two companies pledged to invest 4 billion euros in 2009 ($4. 43 billion)
Make models that include Nissan compact and up to 500,000 batteries a year to power them.
However, sales of Leaf and other electric vehicles have been disappointing, which means that Nissan and NEC are unable to reduce battery costs through mass production.
Reuters reported on 2014 that Ghosn was preparing to cut AESC's battery production and switch to a battery pack made by LG Chem (051910. KS).
Nissan is also selling a 7248 stake in its auto parts supplier Calsonic Kansei Corp. 41 %.
Sources told Reuters.
In May, car manufacturers agree to buy 34-
Mitsubishi Motor Co. , Ltd (7211. T)for about $2.
2 billion, as it seeks to better compete with bigger competitors such as Toyota Motor (7203. T)
And Volkswagen .