The company is looking to make the UK its largest electric car-making hub outside of Japan, which would be a significant boost to the UK automotive sector and North West manufacturing.
The FT reports that the factory would be constructed in the existing Sunderland site, where Nissan has recently committed to staying and would produce 200,000 batteries a year and support thousands of jobs.
UK EV sales are growing and a recent report for April by the SMMT, found that one in five cars built on production lines were in the category.
The SMMT also said recently, the number of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) on UK roads increased by 114.3% to a record high of 199,085 in 2020, while plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) also saw their numbers increase by 35.2% to 239,510. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) saw their numbers grow by a fifth to 621,622 cars.
Nissan develops the Nissan Leaf at its Sunderland plant and has established EV and battery production in the UK in 2013 for the model.
The UK government is urging investment and development of gigafactories and at least three are thought to be needed by 2025 in the country. Britishvolt has revealed plans to build a Gigafactory in Blyth, Northumberland while plans are in the pipeline to build on in Coventry, on a site next next to Coventry Airport.
