By Gilles Guillaume

PARIS, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Nissan may begin purchasing electric-vehicle batteries from LG Chem as it opens procurement to external suppliers in addition to its own manufacturing with NEC Corp, Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said on Monday.

"We will have both, and I hope even more," Ghosn said when asked whether the Japanese carmaker would purchase from suppliers as well the NEC joint venture, AESC.

Ghosn is preparing to cut in-house battery manufacturing, sources earlier told Reuters, while exploring a deal in which LG would produce power packs at existing Nissan production sites in Britain or the U.S.

The CEO was speaking to reporters on Monday at a test-drive event in Nantes, western France.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume)