In August 2018, Nissan had announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell its electric battery operations and production facilities to China-based Envision Group, a leading digital energy company.

As per the understanding Envision has committed to complete acquisition of Nissan subsidiary Automotive Energy Supply Corporation and battery manufacturing operations in Smyrna, Tennessee, owned by Nissan North America Inc. (NNA), and in Sunderland, England, owned by Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd. (NMUK). The company had also committed to acquire Nissan’s Japanese battery development and production engineering operations located in Oppama, Atsugi and Zama.

The company had also agreed to continue employing all the existing workforce and the headquarters and development centres of the business to remain in Japan.

Marking the completion of the transaction, Nissan’s chief competitive officer, Yasuhiro Yamauchi, said: “The new company has the opportunity to grow as a battery company with increased competitiveness under Envision. Nissan will continue to work with the new company as an important supplier as we concentrate our energy on developing and producing market-leading electric vehicles.”

The new battery company is scheduled to start operations on April 1, 2019.