Speaking to Reuters, Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta described electrification as the partnership's new lynchpin.

The Franco-Japanese alliance, which also includes Mitsubishi, had been strained after the arrest and ousting of former boss Carlos Ghosn.

Since then, the health crisis has provided an impetus to rebuild the collaboration, with the companies looking to standardize parts and platforms to cut costs.

Gupta says the focus will be on sharing batteries, electric powertrains and electronic architecture.

"Now moving forward, the battery we have agreed on the common specifications, so battery will be common. So you can imagine, when we are talking about electrification in the future, that by 2030s 100% offerings will be electrification, definitely as alliance, if we are selecting a common spec battery with common supplier, definitely will improve the performance of each company."

The push to share more of the work on electric vehicles illustrates the scope of the challenge facing automakers everywhere, as the industry is being transformed by fast-moving technology.

Batteries are one of the costliest components of EVs, with raw materials accounting for the largest part of the cost.

Yet battery development has been one of the weaker points of the alliance, with Nissan and Renault sourcing batteries separately.

Gupta also said that while keeping the distinctiveness of each brand was important in the alliance, the automakers will share to remain cost-competitive.

"We share to eliminate the duplication of the resources. So for us, synergy is not for the sake of synergy. For us, synergy is to improve the performance of each company."

Nissan has said it will electrify all new models in key markets by the early 2030s.