The Japanese automaker sees electric vehicles reaching 50% of its sales in China electric and 80% in Europe by the end of the decade.

The move comes as global rivals such as Germany’s Volkswagen rush to invest in EV development.

Although Nissan was one of the pioneers in EVs, its sales of the vehicles are modest compared with companies such as Tesla.

Nissan aims to accelerate its sales of the environmentally friendly vehicles by expanding investment.

EVs and hybrid cars accounted for around 10% of global car sales last year, standing at 2% in China and 10% in Europe.

Nissan aims to raise those figures in both regions as they introduce tighter environmental restrictions.

China is the largest market for Nissan, which sold 1.45 million vehicles in the country in fiscal 2020.

During the same period, Nissan sold 390,000 vehicles in Europe.

Those markets combined made up half of Nissan’s global car sales.

The automaker’s plans are to be included in the company’s long-term vision that will be unveiled on Monday.

Nissan’s sole European plant, located in the UK, will be converted into a production base that specialises in EVs and hybrid cars.

It will also spend more to accelerate production of electrified vehicles.

It is estimated that Nissan has invested a total of ¥3 trillion in the 10 years until fiscal 2020, the automaker aims to increase this over the next 10 years by more than 30%.

The spending will be used to ramp up battery production and develop new models.

Nissan plans to roll out an additional 10 EV models by fiscal 2026, adding to the current five EV models including the Leaf.

To lower the price of electric vehicles to the same level as gasoline cars, Nissan will work with its partners Renault and Mitsubishi Motors to procure batteries, which account for 30% to 40% of the total production cost for an EV.

In January, Nissan announced that it would make all new models in the major markets electric by the early 2030s.

Nissan believes that conventional gasoline-powered cars will still account for a high proportion of new car sales in Japan and the US in 2030.

Carmakers are rushing to invest more in EV development amid the global push for decarbonisation.

Toyota Motor will invest ¥1.5 trillion in batteries and aims to sell 2 million units of electric cars and fuel cell vehicles globally in 2030.

Volkswagen will invest €35 billion by 2025 to make 50% of the global new car sales electric in 2030.

Germany’s Daimler, US-based General Motors, and Honda Motor are planning to quit selling combustion engine cars including hybrid vehicles.

Nissan is behind its rival EV makers such as Tesla.

In 2020, Nissan’s electric cars accounted for 4% of the global EV sales.

Chinese carmakers are accelerating the rollout of low-priced electric cars and building presence in China and Europe.

According to US consulting firm Alix Partners, electrified cars accounted for 11% of the global new car sales in 2020.

The ratio is expected to increase to 61% in 2030.

It is estimated that electrified cars will account for 90% of new car sales in Europe and 70% in China and Japan.