In January 2010, the Department of Energy issued a $1.45 billion loan facility to Nissan North America to construct one of the largest advanced battery manufacturing plants in the United States, construct an efficient and environmentally-friendly paint plant, and retool its Smyrna, Tennessee manufacturing facility for assembly of the all-electric LEAF vehicle.  Nissan also used the loan to develop an electric power train manufacturing line for the LEAF vehicle within its engine manufacturing facility in Decherd, Tennessee.

Nissan built and upgraded facilities to manufacture its LEAF vehicle, which has a zero-emission, all-electric powertrain that improves fuel economy over conventional internal combustion engine vehicles. Nissan’s new paint plant has improved energy efficiency by 30% compared to the paint plant it replaced. Its state-of-the-art manufacturing plant was designed with a production capacity of up to 4.4 GWh worth of battery packs and up to 150,000 LEAF vehicles annually.

Nissan created more than 1,300 jobs at its ATVM-supported facilities. Nissan is also helping lay the groundwork to develop a U.S. infrastructure that will support electric vehicles and their related industries. The company has formed partnerships with states, counties, municipalities, and electric utilities to prepare markets for the introduction of electric vehicles; including the installation of charging stations.

Nissan has manufactured vehicles at ATVM-supported facilities that are estimated to save 13,500,000 gallons of gasoline and prevent 120,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year.