Nissan Opens Electric Car Plant in Tennessee

The news about non oil based auto fuels is hitting the business pages with some regularity — no longer just the alternative tree-hugging press. Admittedly electric cars are not necessarily carbon free — and won’t be for a long time, but once the infrastructure is in place to deliver electrical re-charges to vehicles then the longer term transition from coal and oil electrical production to production by wind, solar, biomass and more can pick up speed.

As Nissan dedicated its new $100 million Americas corporate headquarters in Cool Springs on Tuesday, President and Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn announced that the automaker had signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Gov. Phil Bredesen to work together with the state and the Tennessee Valley Authority to develop a recharging network in Middle Tennessee.

Ghosn in May said Nissan would begin selling electric vehicles for fleet use in the United States in 2010, and plans to make them available to the mass market as early as 2012.

Nissan Electric in Tennessee