Nissan-Renault eye battery plant in France - media

TOKYO, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co (7201.T) and its partner Renault SA (RENA.PA) plan to jointly build a plant in France to produce batteries for electric vehicles in 2012, with an annual capacity of enough batteries for around 60,000 cars, Japan's Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday.

As part of its plan to supply lithium ion batteries to Renault for use in electric vehicles, Nissan will invest a total of around 50 billion yen ($550 million) to upgrade supply capacity in Japan and build the plant in France, the paper added.

In addition to batteries, Nissan and Renault plan to work together on motors and other key components of electric vehicles to bring down production costs, the Nikkei said.

Nissan was not immediately available for comment on a public holiday in Japan on Tuesday.

Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said in late October the Franco-Japanese alliance, which has unveiled plans to manufacture batteries in Japan, the United States, Portugal and Britain, was considering production of batteries for electric vehicles in France. [ID:nTKG006548].

He also said last month the alliance was ready to produce a half million electric car batteries annually, although market conditions would determine when. Nissan plans begin to sell electric cars in Japan in the second half of next year, followed a year later by Renault and then global mass production in 2012. [ID:nPEK370396] ($1=90.38 Yen) (Reporting by Yoko Nishikawa; Editing by Lincoln Feast)