£1.65m funding boost for Nissan LEAF supplier

UK production of the LEAF is not due to commence at Nissan’s plant in Sunderland until 2013, but the carmaker’s new lithium-ion battery UK plant is set to begin production in the early part of this year. 

Nifco, which has made plastic parts for Nissan for over two decades and supplies other carmakers such as Honda and Toyota, will open its new 130,000 square foot factory within the next two weeks, from where it will manufacture the fully recyclable, plastic injection moulded components for the LEAF battery pack.

The multi-million pound contract with Nissan will not only secure Nifco a share of the UK’s growing EV market, but reportedly help the company’s turnover grow from £25 million in 2010 to an estimated £60 million by 2015. 

The three other companies to win funding from the RGF this week were e2v Technologies Limited in Chelmsford, Essex, which was awarded £6.25 million towards its work developing microwave processing systems for a range of industrial applications in resource and energy intensive sectors; Bentley Motors in Crewe in the North West, which will receive £1.69 million to upskill existing employees; and Halifax Rack and Screw Cutting Co. Ltd, in Halifax in Yorkshire, which will receive £200,000 towards a £1.5 million project to support modernisation of its production facilities to manufacture precision products for the construction, engineering, offshore and energy sectors. 

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the funding round would created 641 new jobs in the UK regions.

"The Regional Growth Fund is unlocking private sector investment, with at least £5 put in for every £1 of public money, letting businesses in Britain thrive," he added. 

So far £1.4 billion of the RGF’s £2.4 billion total value has been conditionally allocated to 164 projects, leveraging £6 billion of private investment and creating and safeguarding more than 330,000 jobs, according to the Government.