by Bryan Laviolette
The Detroit Bureau
December 13, 2012
Nissan took a major step toward U.S. production of its Leaf electric vehicle with the beginning of lithium-ion battery production in at its plant in Smyrna, Tenn…
Nissan has invested $1.7 billion in the battery plant and tooling to produce the Leaf in Smyrna. Nissan obtained a federally guaranteed $1.4 billion loan to help fund the project. So far, Nissan has added 300 jobs between battery production and setting up for production of the vehicle itself. That number could rise to 1,000 jobs depending on production demands. The battery plant was built to accommodate expansion to produce up to 200,000 battery modules.