TOKYO -- Nissan Motor has entered the final stages of negotiation to sell its electric-vehicle battery unit to Chinese investment fund GSR group, The Nikkei learned Friday.
The deal likely will be worth around 110 billion yen ($988 million). By procuring batteries from an outside source, Nissan hopes to make electric vehicles more competitive on price, as the Japanese automaker positions this category as the mainstay of its green offerings. The batteries are said to account for roughly one-quarter of electric vehicle prices in general. Lowering the costs via mass production has been a challenge.
