It would appear that yesterday, Nissan's CEO announced that the company as been conditionally approved by the Department of Energy for a $1.6 billion dollar loan. What are the conditions you ask? Well, it looks like its manufacturing plant in Smyrna, TN has to start cranking out electric vehicles and lithium-ion battery packs.
According to the press release, senior VP Dominique Thormann says, "This loan is an investment in America. It will help us put high-quality, affordable zero-emissions vehicles on our roads...This project will expand our Smyrna plant and that’s great economic news.”
Construction of Nissan's zero-emissions vehicle plant is scheduled to break ground at the end of the year but production of vehicles won't happen until 2012. (Although Nissan does say they will start offering EVs to the US and Japan as early as 2010...they'll just be produced in Japan and shipped over before the TN plant is ready to roll.)
Here's a little more from the press release about the plant and their planned EV:
Quote:
Nissan’s electric vehicle will comfortably seat five people, drive on any American road or highway and have an initial range of 100 miles before recharging.
To help ensure that infrastructure is in place to support zero-emissions vehicles, during the past year, Nissan has been involved in establishing partnerships with governments, municipalities, utility companies, and public and private organizations aimed at creating conditions that will support the market for zero-emissions vehicles.
The modifications of the Smyrna manufacturing plant include a new battery plant and changes in the existing structure for electric-vehicle assembly. When fully operational, the vehicle assembly plant will have the capacity to build 150,000 zero-emissions vehicles a year and the new plant will have an annual capacity of 200,000 batteries.
Any thoughts?
