---
title: "Nissan Will Release 15 New EVs This Decade as Part of $17.6B Investment"
description: "After 11 years of reliance on the Leaf, Nissan is throwing money at 23 new models—15 of which will be EVs. The rest will be hybrid."
date: "2021-11-29"
modified: "2021-11-29"
authors:
  - name: "Hazel Southwell"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/hazel-southwell"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/tech/43293/nissan-will-release-15-new-evs-this-decade-as-part-of-17-6b-investment"
categories:
  - "Car Tech"
  - "Electric Vehicles"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Nissan News"
tags:
  - "Nissan"
---

# Nissan Will Release 15 New EVs This Decade as Part of $17.6B Investment

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2021/11/Nissan-2030-23-new-electrified-vehicles.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

The [Nissan Leaf](<https://www.thedrive.com/>) may not now be—or has ever been—glamorous. But back when battery electric vehicles were virtually non-existent, it did the job. The first Leaf was delivered in 2010, two years before the first Model S would reach customers; meaning that Nissan didn't have to invent a Tesla-challenging car like everyone else is now scrambling to do. They'd done it. [Until 2018](<https://www.speakev.com/threads/nissan-leaf-is-no-longer-the-best-selling-bev.128296/>) the Leaf was the best-selling EV ever. And it just... never got a sequel.

Today, Nissan has announced a $17.6- billion investment into electrification, as part of a plan towards 2030 that will (hopefully) see its electrified vehicle sales increase by 40 percent in the U.S. and China. It also hopes for a 55 percent increase in Japan and 75 in Europe over the next nine years. It's going to do that by releasing 20 new hybrid and electric cars in the next half a decade and by 2030, it aims to make that 23 new models, of which 15 will be full EVs.

These will reportedly be shared across the Nissan and [Infiniti](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/40602/2021-infiniti-q60-red-sport-400-awd-review-a-preview-of-the-new-z-is-hiding-in-infinitis-lineup>) lines, so they won't all be mass-market models, but that's a fair number of cars. Nissan's also promising to keep at least some of them reasonably priced. Today's announcement includes a commitment to introduce cheaper, cobalt-free (although still lithium-ion) batteries by 2028, which it says will slash battery costs by 65 percent, to what it's projected as $75 per kWh.

Nissan's throwing people as well as money at the problem, promising to recruit 3,000 advanced research and development staff worldwide and to leverage its Brexit-bargained U.K. EV plant, snappily named EV36Zero, to supply global markets as well as Europe. It's also planning—like every other OEM—to go very big on battery production capacity.

![message-editor%2F1638176789303-211129-00-026-1200x675.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1638176789303-211129-00-026-1200x675.jpg>)
*Nissan's new Max-out, Surf-out and Hang-out concept EVs, part of the announcement, *Nissan**

Daimler, Stellantis, and GM all went for a 240 GwH figure by the 2030s but Nissan has kept it probably more realistic at 52 GWh by 2026 and 130 GWh by 2030. And [like BMW](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/17050/bmw-partners-with-us-based-company-to-develop-solid-state-batteries-for-evs>), it's continuing to work with battery supply partners, rather than promising to break ground on new factories itself.

As far as a Leaf successor, things aren't clear. Yes, [the Ariya is coming now](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/43156/2023-nissan-ariya-electric-suv-up-to-300-mile-range-starts-at-47125>) and the charmingly shonky electrified Combi was good if you wanted to move seven people around a small distance, its 124-mile range [never even making it to the U.S](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/33932/nissan-is-out-of-the-van-business-in-america>). Nissan has yet to build another Leaf-style car; affordable, decent for its range—and it's now 11 years old. Now the Leaf is buried under EQs and E-Trons and Ioniqs. This time last year, Nissan celebrated 500,000 Leafs delivered worldwide. Tesla will probably smash that in 2021 alone, given it delivered [386,181 cars](<https://backlinko.com/tesla-stats>) in the first six months. And well, Nissan's plan to sell [a million EVs per year by 2022](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/19558/nissan-wants-to-sell-1-million-electrified-vehicles-a-year-by-2022>) is going well, I guess.

Nissan's Formula E cars are at pre-season testing in Valencia today. When the Renault Groupe originally switched the branding on its entry from Renault to Nissan back in 2018, it seemed nonsensical. Why would *Nissan,* of all the brands, need to showcase its electrification? It makes sense now.

*Got a story tip? Mail it to tips@thedrive.com*

## Author
Hazel is a writer specializing in electric vehicles and new fuel and powertrain technologies. She’s covered tech in motorsport since the inception of Formula E and has been a journalist for 17 years.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/hazel_southwell>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/HSouthwellFE>)