By Andrew English, Motoring Correspondent Published: 11:34AM GMT 18 Mar 2010  The electric Leaf has a range of about 100 miles and a top speed of 90mph  The decision will safeguard the 2,250 jobs at the plant and involves the investment of more than £420 million, including a £20.7 million Government grant.  "This investment is a fantastic vote of confidence in the Sunderland plant and its excellent workforce," said Lord Mandleson, the UK's business secretary.  The 26-year-old UK plant won the contract over a number of rivals, including Nissan's Portuguese factory, and Sunderland is one of three plants around the world that will produce the battery-powered car, which is called the Leaf. The others are in Oppama, Japan and by Smyrna, Tennessee, USA.  "The world is at the dawn of a new era in automotive transport," said Andy Palmer, Nissan's senior vice-president in charge of electric vehicles.  "Thanks to the UK's firm commitment to a low-carbon future in terms of infrastructure, customer incentives and educational programmes, the Nissan Leaf will be built at Sunderland."  Although sales of the Leaf will commence in Japan later this year and in Europe in 2012, the Sunderland plant will not begin production of the five-seat family hatchback until 2013.  It will be built on a second production line at an initial rate of 50,000 a year alongside the Juke urban off-roader.  The Leaf's lithium-ion batteries will be built at a new factory alongside the car plant, which is already under construction.  The Leaf is based on a special electric vehicle chassis and will have an average range of 100 miles and a top speed of 90mph, which Nissan claims will be sufficient for more than 90 per cent of UK car customers' daily journeys.  It also claims that the Leaf will be able to be recharged to more than 80 per cent of its capacity in just 30 minutes at special high-current charging stations.  While there are few such charging points available at present, Nissan has signed an agreement with the regional development agency, One North East, to introduce more than 13,000 charging points in the next three years – London is committed to introduce 25,000 points.  Nissan has agreed to supply the Leaf to the One North East region as early as 2011 with a range of incentives for buyers including free charging and the use of dedicated lanes for electric vehicles.  Although Nissan has not given prices of the Leaf yet, it says that the cost will be in line with an equivalent family hatchback. This is unlikely to include the lithium-ion battery, which is estimated to cost about £20,000.  Like a number of its rivals, Nissan seems likely to introduce a leasing scheme for the batteries so that customers merely hire these expensive bits of kit.
Nissan is to build the Leaf, the world's first battery-electric mass    production car, at its Tyne and Wear factory.