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Nissan boss praises 'fabulous' North East

One of Nissan’s most senior figures has praised the North East’s “fabulous” attitude to low-carbon vehicles.

Nissan senior vice-president Andy Palmer said Sunderland would find out whether it has won the race to build the Leaf electric car for the European market by the end of this year.

In July, Nissan announced that its European Centre of Excellence for Battery Manufacturing would sit alongside its car factory in Sunderland.

Mr Palmer, the Japan-based head of the company’s programme, revealed that Nissan saw hydrogen fuel cell technology as the next stage in low carbon vehicle development.

And he said the North East was leading the way with that technology, as discussions to establish a network of refueling points in the region got underway.

He said that the hydrogen technology would not make electric vehicles obsolete, but he believed it was more suited to larger vehicles, such as the Qashqai and drivers who used cars for longer journeys.

Mr Palmer said that if a network of hydrogen refuelling points was to work, regional government had to “put their money where their mouth is” and invest.

He said: “The North East is not the only place, but we need to link up to governments that are more forward-thinking and One North East is one of them.

“The North East has been frankly fabulous in the last few months, in terms of dealing with central government and in terms of making the decision to put the battery plant in Sunderland, One North East has been extremely progressive and it wouldn’t have happened without them.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .