Nissan is rethinking its business partnership with NEC manufacturing electric car batteries.
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. The reason behind Nissan’s change of mind is it is cheaper to buy electric batteries from an outside supplier than make it.
There are rumors Nissan is talking with Panasonic and foreign companies, including Chinese firms. But Nissan is unlikely to confirm the rumor, although it would likely dismiss the talk as speculation.
Engadget said selling the business makes sense because the lithium-ion battery business has become more competitive at all scales. Even bigger businesses such as Sony has sold its battery company even if the Japanese electronics giant could afford to reduce cost and run on thinner profit margins.
According to Tech Times, Nissan plans to sell as its 51 percent stake in AES.
The trend is also toward carmakers manufacturing more low-emission vehicles such as Tesla which initially targets to make 500,000 low-emission cars by 2020 but could reach it by 2018.
Besides its reported plan to sell its stake in AES, Nissan is also planning to sell its 41 percent stake in Calsonic Kansei, a car parts supplier.