Sen. Bob Corker said Nissan’s announcement Tuesday that it will make electric vehicles at its Smyrna, Tennessee plant means 1,300 jobs.
Nissan Motor Co. CEO Carlos Ghosn made the announcement at a shareholders’ meeting in Yokohama, Japan.
The company will also make electrics at its plants in Japan and Europe.
“This means 1,300 jobs for the area, it secures Tennessee’s position as a leader in America’s energy future and it continues to tell the world that Tennessee is the place to do business, especially automotive business,” said Sen. Bob Corker in a statement released after the meeting.
Susan Brennan, vice president of manufacturing for Nissan’s assembly plant at Smyrna and powertrain plant at Decherd, broke down the job numbers further.
She said if existing sales volumes hold, and depending on demand, there could eventually be up to 1,000 jobs added at a new plant that will make lithium-ion battery packs.
Construction of that battery plant in Smyrna is expected to start later this year.
Brennan said Nissan’s assembly plant can already accommodate production of the electric car starting in 2012 and that could involve a few hundred additional jobs.
The work in Smyrna is made possible by a $1.6 billion federal loan for Nissan North America to build zero-emissions electric cars and their battery packs.
Ghosn said the electrics will be affordable, setting sights on the potentially lucrative market with a plan to mass produce zero-emission cars globally from 2012.
The CEO said that Nissan will sell electric cars first in Japan and the U.S. after April 2010, and then mass produce them globally in 2012.
Ghosn gave few details, but stressed that Nissan’s zero-emission cars will come “with a very reasonable price.”
“This announcement puts Nissan and Tennessee at the center of building electric cars in America,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander.
“We can electrify half our cars and trucks if we plug them in at night, without building one new power plant because of all the unused nighttime electricity we have. This is the single best way to reduce dependence on foreign oil, clean the air, and keep the cost of fuel low,” Alexander added.
Nissan’s North American headquarters is in Franklin, Tennessee.
Source: WATE
