Nissan lands big DOE loan for LEAF
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced that the Department of Energy has closed a $1.4 billion loan agreement with Nissan North America Inc. for its Smyrna, Tenn., manufacturing plant to produce the Nissan LEAF.
The loan, which originated through the Department’s loan guarantee program office, was issued as part of the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, a $25 billion program authorized by Congress as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.
Officials say the loan will create up to 1,300 Tennessee jobs when the plants are operating at full capacity. When fully operational, the vehicle assembly plant will have the capacity to build 150,000 Nissan LEAF electric cars per year, and the new plant will have an annual capacity of 200,000 batteries.
Nissan, along with its Alliance partner, Renault, will start selling the Nissan LEAF in the U.S., Japan and Europe in December 2010.
Nissan is working with the state of Oregon and other municipalities to build the infrastructure needed to charge electric vehicles. Many Oregon businesses see huge potential in the EV industry.
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