Building the original Gigafactory, lessons from Nissan LEAF: Colin Herron Live

We are delighted to announce that UK electric vehicle (EV) pioneer, Colin Herron CBE, will join Benchmark’s In Conversation on Thursday 18 June at 6pm Berlin / 5pm UK / 12pm New York / 9am San Francisco & Los Angeles.

Colin was awarded a CBE, the second highest possible award in the British Honours System and given in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, for his work on leading the UK into electric vehicles and low carbon transport.

Colin has spent 45 years in the automotive industry but his 17 year career at Nissan saw him become integral in building and launching the Nissan LEAF and the lithium ion battery plant and strategy in the UK.

From the inception of the LEAF in 2009 – the world’s first mass market electric vehicle – to building Europe’s first EV battery megafactory in 2013 and launching Zero Carbon Futures to guide industry and government decisions, we are delighted to have Colin join Benchmark In Conversation.

“There are very few true pioneers in our young and evolving industry and Colin is most definitely one of those. Not only has his electric vehicle achievements been recognised by the Queen, Colin was at the heart of the lithium ion battery strategy for the world’s first truly mass market EV, the Nissan LEAF,” Simon Moores, Managing Director, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence said.

“Colin was integral in not only the LEAF’s launch but the strategy to build lithium ion batteries in-house at Europe’s first Gigafactory in Sunderland, UK – this predates the Tesla Gigafactory and has become the blueprint for every major OEM that is evolving into electric vehicles,” Moores added.

Benchmark’s In Conversation is live and online on Thursday 18 June @ 5pm UK, free for all Benchmark subscribers. You can join us here.

To gain access to this discussion and Benchmark’s Streaming Service, including all 30+ hours of EVFest, click here.