Nissan North America (NNA) has announced plans to produce electric cars at its plant in the US town of Smyrna, Tennessee.

As such, the automobile manufacturer will add approximately 1,300 jobs to the local labor market.

Nissan will initially produce 100,000 units annually at Smyrna, with full production set to be 150,000 cars per year.

A low interest loan of $1.6 billion will be given to Nissan by the US Department of Energy in order to help the company fund the manufacture of the vehicles.

The money will also go towards the construction of a new battery plant.

Dominique Thormann, senior vice president, Administration and Finance for NNA, said:
"This loan is an investment in America. It will help us put high-quality, affordable zero-emissions vehicles on our roads.

"This project will expand our Smyrna plant and that's great economic news."

Nissan will initially product its electric car in Japan before production is started at Smyrna in 2012.