HIGH there. It’s me. Sat on top of a 249ft wind turbine like a trainee Fred Dibnah.
It’s wet and windy up here. Properly windy.
The turbine is swaying from side to side like a boat.
But the bird’s eye view of Britain’s No1 car plant — and the carpet of countryside stretching for miles around — was definitely worth the potential code brown.
Why am I here?
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Because 20 per cent of the energy used to build Nissan’s Qashqai, Juke and Leaf comes from wind and solar.
Decent.
But that’s just the start. Nissan is well on the road to making Sunderland the planet’s greenest car factory.
Qashqai is jewel in the crown
By 2030, the mega-selling Qashqai and Juke will become electric only, like Leaf.
Batteries will be assembled at one of three gigafactories next door.
A new microgrid incorporating the existing wind and solar farms will have the capability to produce all the energy the car and battery plants need.
A total ecosystem, then.
Now some might argue that being kind to the planet with responsible manufacturing is one thing. But who’s paying for it?
If families can’t afford the extra cost of an EV, they’ll buy a petrol something or other instead.
Bosses promised battery costs will be lower by 2030, putting Nissan EVs in the same price bracket as petrols. I’ll keep reminding them of that. Now for some Gregg Wallace-style “Inside The Factory” facts.
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Sunderland started out building Bluebird in 1986 and has now topped 11 MILLION cars. One in three UK-built cars is made right here in the North East — more than 400,000 a year — with a new Qashqai born every TWO MINUTES.
Qashqai is the crown jewel. The do-it-all SUV continues to set records as the fastest car to one, two, three and four million units.
Line them up end to end and they would stretch from Sunderland to Mount Fuji.
Now a smarter, more sophisticated Qashqai with built-in Google has started rolling out of the factory gates, priced from £30k.
You might notice the more distinctive front end and body-coloured wheel arches.
Juke was refreshed in February (see road test, right) and the factory is now busy preparing for the next-gen Leaf, due early 2025.
Another thing that impresses is the pride and precision of the 6,000 people who work here — exactly the reason why the Japanese continue to invest billions futureproofing the plant.
You are born either red and white or black and white in these parts.
But absolutely everyone is backing Nissan’s green team.
- THANK you to Jason and Gary for guiding me up and down the turbine. It’s a bit like abseiling inside a giant straw. Yes, I will leave a review on TripAdvisor and, yes, I will buy a mug on the way out. Lads.
