The Japanese carmaker is said to be planning to sell its controlling stakes in Automotive Energy Supply (AES), and then NEC would likely also sell its share, reported Engadget.
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By shedding the venture, meanwhile, Nissan could get more flexibility in terms of battery sourcing.
There are rumors Nissan is talking with Panasonic and foreign companies, including Chinese firms. Tesla relies on Panasonic for its electric cars’ power sources.
Nissan and Renault SA (RENA.PA), under Carlos Ghosn, who heads both companies, have bet more heavily on electric cars than mainstream competitors.
The Japan-based automaker and its sister company Renault had made a pledge in 2009 to invest $4.43 billion United States dollars to create vehicles such as the Leaf, and manufacture as many as 500,000 batteries for these vehicles. A part of the large sum went into building and shipping 500,000 electric vehicle batteries per year.
Sales of the Leaf and other EVs, however, have been disappointing, meaning Nissan and NEC have been unable to lower battery costs through mass production. The upcoming Nissan Leaf has also played quite an important role in midst as the company has very high hopes from the product. The Leaf remains the most popular global plug-in electric vehicle with about 250,000 units sold, and the carmaker equipped the 2016 Leaf to reach a full 107 miles per charge, while carrying a 30kWh battery.
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Going forward, Nissan is expected to curb its use of batteries from the AESC operation and shift to packs provided by South Korean battery maker LG Chem. In May this year, Nissan inked a deal with Mitsubishi in which the latter sold 34 percent of its stake for $2.2 billion. On the other hand, the NEC executives and Panasonic management team did not respond to questions when asked, either.
