After Japan and the US, it will be the UK which will see a full-scale production of the Nissan LEAF EV in the company’s Sunderland plant. While the Japanese production commences this year, US will see the LEAF being produced in 2012 and the UK plant will follow a year later.

Nissan also intends to build an advanced lithium-ion battery plant in Sunderland and the construction should begin next month. While the automobile facility will render 50,000 LEAF units annually, the battery plant will have a capacity of 60,000 batteries per year .Collectively, the investment for both these projects will be somewhere close to an astounding £420 million. Nissan LEAF is touted as the first mass-produced and affordable family EV in the world and it will throng many streets across the world in a couple of years from now.

Ultra small electric vehicles are the future for the green minded and those who’d like to slash their monthly gas bill and their carbon footprin. Renault realizes it, hence why the French have announced the production of the Frankfurt-introduced electric vehicle, the new Twizy Z.E. (Zero Emission) Concept in Spain. It will be the Renault Valladolid plant located 150 km North West of Madrid where the small electric vehicles will be produced.

Renault is committed to bringing smaller non-polluting commuters to the market (especially Western Europe) by 2011 and the Twizy will be the first product courtesy of the long term future plan. What is special about the Twizy is its Pearlescent white body coating and luminous matrix displays which can function as head- or tail- lights. You can also use these lights to create faces that communicate the driver’s emotions.

Power comes from a 20 hp electric motor which renders 70Nm of Torque. The motor is connected to a lithium-ion battery pack and this combination gives the commuter a 100 Km range.

Last year in September Ford Kuga was just a concept. It took them 6 months to put the robots at work and start production at the Ford plant in Saarlouis, Germany. 45,000 Ford Kuga are expected to leave their factory to customers in 32 countries of the world. The Germans decided to export around 84 percent of the units produced in Saarlouis. Biggest clients will be from Germany, Italy, UK, France and Spain.

Official debut will be in just a few days at Geneva.

via AutoUnleashed