Nissan: Electric versions of Qashqai and Juke being made in Sunderland

The Nissan Juke is manufactured in Sunderland. Credit: Nissan

Electrified versions of the Qashqai and Juke are now being manufactured in the North East thanks to a £10m state-of-the-art battery assembly facility.

Nissan's Qashqai e-Power and Juke Hybrid are rolling off the lines at the company's Sunderland plant.

Built alongside the Nissan LEAF, these technologies mean every model built by Nissan in the UK now has an electrified version.

Alan Johnson, Nissan's Vice President for Manufacturing in the UK, said: "With more than five million customers, Qashqai and Juke are two of our plant's most  successful and popular models ever.

"Both e-POWER and hybrid technologies are firsts for the team in Sunderland, so it's fantastic to see the electrified versions rolling off our two production lines."

The two electrified models are part of a previously announced £500m investment by Nissan into the plant to build the current generations of Qashqai and Juke.

New facilities installed include a £10m state-of-the-art Battery Assembly facility, where batteries packs are made for both the e-POWER and hybrid powertrains, before being delivered to be fitted into vehicles.

Staff at the facility have completed two million hours of electrification training.

Mr Johnson added: "Our plant is built on the foundations of 36 years of manufacturing excellence from our world-class people and advanced facilities.

"Two million hours of training just for electrification shows we are taking that to the next level, as we lead the charge towards an electrified future.

"And of course we'll continue to deliver brilliant, technologically advanced, cars to the high standards of quality that our customers have come to love."

The launches come after Nissan announced Sunderland Plant as the home of EV36Zero, a £1bn flagship electric vehicle manufacturing ecosystem bringing together electric vehicles, renewable energy and battery production.

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