Earlier this year, Nissan announced plans to base European production of its zero-emission electric car – the Leaf – in Sunderland, which provides a welcome boost for Britain's auto industry. The north east could be transformed into a hub for this type of technology through the installation of hundreds of charge points throughout the region. And, from next year, the rollout of electric vehicles will be given further impetus through a £5,000 subsidy on offer from the UK government to those in the market for zero-emission vehicles.
Allied to Nissan's new vehicle production is the development of an electric car battery plant, which will create new jobs in the area. Zero emissions, new jobs – it's all good stuff. Except there's a very real possibility that come 2012, when the batteries are due to start rolling off the production line, imports of materials critical to their construction may well be grinding to a halt.
This is because Nissan's proposals for the Sunderland plant are reliant on Chinese exports of some very obscure and valuable minerals. And there's the rub: China currently enjoys a virtual monopoly on the global production and export of these materials, which are strictly controlled by government quotas, yet by 2012 it is estimated that Chinese domestic demand alone could conceivably overtake supply from its two principal regions: Baotou and Sichuan. China has already seen the supply squeeze coming and slashed export quotas by 72 per cent in response.
