Japan's Nidec plans $2 billion EV motor factory in Europe: Nikkei

TOKYO: Nidec Corp will spend 200 billion yen ($1.9 billion) on a new plant in Serbia to build motors for electric vehicles as it seeks to win more business from automakers turning away from internal combustion engines, the Nikkei newspaper reported.

Nidec founder Shigenobu Nagamori has said he wants a 35% market share for energy-saving electric motor technology know as e-axle or e-drive by 2030, which is expected to have grown ten times by then to as much as $30 billion a year.

The technology is expected to make electric vehicles more affordable and help cut carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles which account for 17% of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation in Washington.

The plant, which follows construction of an EV motor plant in China, is slated to open in 2023 with annual production of between 200,000 and 300,000 units a year, the Nikkei said.

A spokesman for Nidec declined to comment.

Nidec, also known for its miniature electric motors for smartphones and other electronic devices, acquired automotive electronic control system producer Honda Elesys in 2014 and the automotive electronics unit of Omron Corp in 2019.

It faces competition from other companies such as Japan’s Denso Corp and Aisin Seiki Corp, which last year formed a joint venture called BluE Nexus in 2019.