Nissan has gone live with a new £10m (€11.2m) battery assembly facility at its Sunderland plant, supporting further electrification of its model line-up.

Every model built by Nissan in the UK now has an electrified version

The carmaker has previously announced a £500m investment into the plant to build the current generations of Qashqai and Juke and the upgrades include the new battery facility.

It’s being used to produce batteries packs are made for both the new Qashqai e-Power and the Juke Hybrid; both part of an offensive that means every model built by Nissan in the UK now has an electrified version.

Alan Johnson, Nissan’s vice president for manufacturing in the UK, said: “With more than five million customers, Qashqai and Juke are two of our plant’s most successful and popular models ever.

“Both e-Power and hybrid technologies are firsts for the team in Sunderland, so it’s fantastic to see the electrified versions rolling off our two production lines.”

It’s the latest development for the plan, which started production of the fully electric Nissan Leaf in 2011. Since then, staff have undergone more than two million hours of training dedicated to manufacturing electrified vehicles, with more planned in the coming months and years.

Alan Johnson added: “Our plant is built on the foundations of 36 years of manufacturing excellence from our world-class people and advanced facilities.

“Two million hours of training just for electrification shows we are taking that to the next level, as we lead the charge towards an electrified future.

“And of course, we’ll continue to deliver brilliant, technologically advanced, cars to the high standards of quality that our customers have come to love.”

Nissan announced a year ago that its Sunderland Plant will become the home of EV36Zero, a £1bn flagship electric vehicle manufacturing ecosystem bringing together electric vehicles, renewable energy and battery production. It’s intended to set a blueprint for the future of the automotive industry.