Nissan has the capacity to make 200,000 battery packs in Tennessee annually. U.S. taxpayers subsidized the battery operation through a $1.4 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, which looked to be a way for the Obama Administration to get Republican Senator Corker of Tennessee to drop his opposition at the time to the bailouts of GM and Chrysler.

LEAF assembly in Smyrna will contribute to Nissan’s stated goal of manufacturing 85% of its U.S. sales volume in North America by 2015. The strong Japanese Yen is forcing all Japanese automakers to produce more local content. Nissan said the addition of LEAF and battery assembly has resulted in the creation of more than 300 U.S. manufacturing jobs, a number that can increase if Nissan’s optimistic sales forecasts for EVs ever materialize. For the moment, beyond a small group of EV true believers, mainstream buyers are scoffing at the cost of $40,000 and up EVs.