FRANKLIN, Tenn., April 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nissan North America, Inc. (Nissan) has selected W.G. Yates of Philadelphia, Miss., as the general contractor supporting the pre-construction services phase for Nissan's new battery plant that will be built at the automaker's vehicle assembly plant in Smyrna, Tenn. The battery plant will support the assembly of the Nissan LEAF that will be built at the Smyrna plant in late 2012.

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Nissan LEAF – the first in a range of forthcoming Nissan electric vehicles (EVs) – is the world's first affordable, mass produced zero emission car and embodies Nissan's vision for an environmentally sustainable future for road transport.

W.G. Yates joins Albert Kahn Associates as part of the Nissan design team for the battery plant construction project.  Nissan awarded the architectural and engineering design services contract to Albert Kahn of Detroit, Mich. in January, 2010. Yates will be providing design support services prior to the start of construction scheduled to begin this summer.  

Modification of the Smyrna manufacturing plant, which will begin later this year, includes a new battery plant and changes in the existing structure for electric-vehicle assembly. When fully operational, the vehicle assembly plant will have the capacity to build 150,000 Nissan LEAF electric cars per year, and the new plant will have the annual capacity of 200,000 batteries.

In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing.  Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under the Nissan Green Program 2010, whose key priorities are reducing CO2 emissions, cutting other emissions and increasing recycling.  More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.NissanUSA.com and http://www.nissandriven.com/www.InfinitiUSA.com.

SOURCE Nissan North America, Inc.

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