A STOCKTON automotive parts maker is hoping to win up to £4m of orders from the new electric vehicle (EV) produced by Japanese car giant Nissan.

Nifco UK said the move was part of plans to grow turnover from £25m this year to around £35m by 2012.

Last week Nissan announced a multi-million pound investment in its Sunderland plant to kick-start production of its green Leaf car on Wearside from 2013.

It will be the first EV to be mass produced in the UK.

Nifco is hoping to secure £1m-2m of work from the move and said it was already in line to win a further £1m-2m of orders from production of the car in Japan.

The firm, which has supplied plastic parts to Nissan for more than two decades, is looking to create 40 more jobs this year and has set aside a £12m-14m war chest to invest in new machinery, premises and processes.

Around £7m has been earmarked to move staff from current premises to a new 130,000 sq ft facility in Teesside. The building is due to open next year.

Nifco said the Nissan announcement would position the North-east in the European vanguard for green technology. The region has been selected as one of three UK electric car hubs alongside London and Milton Keynes.

Mike Matthews, managing director of Nifco UK, said: “It’s fantastic news. The fact that the North-east is going to have the first fully electric vehicle will put the North-east at the heart of the EV industry.”

The Government aims to position the UK - and the North-east in particular - as a world leader in ultra-low carbon vehicles.

The RAC Foundation said the aim was to have 1.7 million EVs on UK roads by 2020 to help meet climate change obligations.

However there are fears the attempts to bring EVs to the mass market could be foiled by high manufacturing costs which could put prices out of consumers’ reach. The electric roadster introduced last year by Tesla Motors comes with a price tag of more than £60,000.

There are also concerns that until battery technology is more advanced, consumers will be deterred by relatively low maximum speeds and the need to re-charge EVs every 100-150 miles.

Mr Matthews, however, said emerging technologies would eventually overcome these hurdles and narrow the cost divide between EVs and standard petrol and diesel cars.

He said: “The infrastructure (for EVs) will be ready. It will not be long before you will be able to pull into your local supermarket and charge up.”

For an in depth look at the region’s manufacturing sector, see tomorrow’s nebusiness.