Nissan Leaf to be built in the UK

Nissan's upcoming electric car, the Leaf, has been confirmed for production in the UK's Nissan plant at Washington, near Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.

The announcement is fantastic news for both jobs in the North East of England and the UK car manufacturing industry as a whole. Production is expected to commence in 2013.

Not only has the Leaf been confirmed, but it has been announced that there will be a Government investment of £20 million into the region to develop an electric recharging infrastructure, with up to 1300 charging points to be installed over the next three years. The 1300 points will stretch from Teesside to the Scottish borders, and are expected to be located as follows:

• 250 in public car parks
• 240 at workplaces
• 240 will be available for people's homes
• 90 will be in retail car parks
• 50 in leisure centres
• 50 at on-street parking points
• 30 at transport hubs

The majority will be centred around Teesside, Tyneside and Wearside, but others will be placed at locations around further afield for convenient recharging at some of the North East's more popular attractions.

The production and the Leaf accelerate the North East to being the leading location in the UK for electric car use and development and the Government has declared the area the UK's first low carbon economic area.