Nissan, Toyota battery plant U-turns stall Japan supply chain goals

TOKYO — Nissan Motor’s cancellation of its first electric vehicle battery plant in Japan, on the heels of Toyota Motor’s postponement of a similar project, damages Japan’s efforts to secure a domestic supply of batteries.

Nissan had just signed a partnership agreement with local authorities for the project in January. The decision to scrap the project just a few months later owed to the automaker’s weak earnings, which Nissan said led it to “reexamine the investment amount.”