This money will account for most of the US government loan, granted in June. Initial estimations said the facility will cost approximately 50 billion yen ($516.4 million). Even from that early stage, Nissan said that amount is likely to get doubled.
According to Nissan, the Tennessee facility will house three production modules, each of then costing the manufacturer some $350 million to erect. Each module is expected to have a production capacity of around 54,000 battery units per year.
Nissan will get $1.6 billion from the US government to produce cars and batteries in Smyrna. The US DoE says the Japanese carmaker will offer electric vehicles to fleet and retail consumers, with an estimated annual production going as high as 150,000 units. Nissan will employ approximately 1,300 additional staff to meet this production goal.
Nissan is stepping up its EV offensive, as it already announced it will unveil in August three electric vehicles, scheduled to progressively hit the markets worldwide in 2011. The plan is to build them in the United States, Europe and Japan alike. The factories to produce the EV include the one Nissan will build in Smyna, Tennessee and Oppma, in Japan.
The first electric vehicles sourced from Nissan will hit the streets in trial version, to be used by corporate or government partners. The first one will go to the States next year. It will be a five-door hatchback similar to the Versa, and will have a range of about 100 miles per charge (160 km).
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