Progress of Nissan's Battery Plant in Smyrna, TN

[richard]

PR Newswire Release - "Nissan Progresses Construction of Electric Vehicle Battery Plant in Tennessee"

This plant is really big. Just for scale, the nearby factory where the LEAFs will be made is 5.2 million square feet.

This puts into perspective the investment Nissan is making in electric transportation. Very encouraging.

 

[TRONZ]

Love it! Remove all the Oil subsidies and give them to the tech industry for projects like this.

 

[Essiemme]

Today, the Nissan Battery factory in Cacia, Portugal, began constructions.

The revolution is starting to move here as well...

 

[evnow]

The other day I was searching for "quality smyrna" to see if there are any reports of quality of vehicles coming out of Smyrna compared to the Japanese ones. Didn't find anything.

But I found a lot of new jobs being advertised, including battery QC.

https://sjobs.brassring.com/1033/ASP/TG/cim_jobdetail.asp?jobId=394399&partnerid=25024&siteid=5154&codes=IND

Battery Plant Quality Engineer #2
Function Manufacturing
Site / Location of Position US - Smyrna, TN
Legal Entity Nissan North America, Manufacturing (NMC)

Minimum Education Required Bachelors Degree

Posting Description Supports Nissan Li-ion battery production by monitoring KPI’s for process, supplier parts, and/or warranty to ensure quality for manufacturing is maintained. Root cause analysis and implementation of corrective action for process and warranty related concerns. Assist Quality Assurance (QA) Manager in establishing, implementing and maintaining quality management systems (ISO9001 and ISO14001). Support QA Technologists to ensure that products and processes comply with the relevant requirements of the quality management system. Manage suppliers’ performance and conduct audits as necessary. Create and maintain company quality documentation; such as quality manuals, quality procedures, inspection reports, etc.

B.S. degree plus a minimum of three - five years process and/or product related engineering or quality assurance experience. Desire experience in highly-automated manufacturing environment with good leadership ability, excellent verbal/written communication skills, and the ability to train workgroup members. Must be able to multi-task and network effectively with other departments.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

nice!!

 

[Essiemme]

Today, the Nissan Battery factory in Cacia, Portugal, began constructions.

The revolution is starting to move here as well...

Here is a link for some photos (needs a Facebook account, I'm affraid...)
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=36009&id=110070959036108&fbid=177639938945876

By the way, this is our Prime Minister's own LEAF:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?a...6&set=a.177639938945876.36009.110070959036108

It's time for Pres. Obama to ride a Tesla, hugh ?

Regards

 

[JPVLeaf]

Nissan Pulls Plug on Battery Plant Grand Opening
Smyrna, TN
Fri., Nov. 9th, 2012, by Blake Farmer

http://wpln.org/?p=42993

"scheduling conflicts"?

The grand opening of Nissan’s new electric car battery plant in Smyrna has been cancelled. A spokesperson for the automaker says scheduling conflicts have been encountered “among key stakeholders.”
The plant quietly started producing lithium-ion batteries last month, according to the company. And the first Nissan Leaf made in the U.S. is still supposed to roll off the nearby assembly line around the first of the year.

Nissan received a $1.4 billion loan from the federal government to build the battery plant and retool an existing vehicle production line.

There have been big media events along the way. Nissan’s global CEO Carlos Ghosn attended the groundbreaking in 2010 with a laundry list of VIPs. Last year, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood toured the battery plant as it was under construction. At this time, a Nissan spokesman says there are no plans to reschedule a grand opening.

 

[TomT]

Me thinks that there is something much bigger afoot...

"scheduling conflicts"?

 

[jimcmorr]

Care to speculate out loud? :?

Me thinks that there is something much bigger afoot...

"scheduling conflicts"?

 

[Herm]

"At this time, a Nissan spokesman says there are no plans to reschedule a grand opening."

 

[TomT]

I really don't know, but it sure doesn't pass the smell test! Time will tell...

Care to speculate out loud? :?

Me thinks that there is something much bigger afoot...

"scheduling conflicts"?

 

[GeekEV]

I really don't know, but it sure doesn't pass the smell test! Time will tell...

Care to speculate out loud? :?

I'll speculate out loud... But it's 100% pure conjecture - the first is more likely, the second is likely pure BS...

I figure it's either one of two things:

1) The press coverage of the event would likely generate too many questions about the AZ/TX battery issues and Nissan would rather stick it's head in the sand.
- or -
2) The press coverage of the event would likely entail factory tours which would make it very hard to conceal the fact that they *do* actually have a new battery pack in the works that they want to surprise us with.

...debate...

 

[mwalsh]

In case there is any doubt that Nissan is reading this forum on an ongoing basis...I got another call from Travis Parman this morning, indicating two weeks for the press materials outlining progress at the Smyrna battery plant.

 

[Stanton]

I really don't know, but it sure doesn't pass the smell test! Time will tell...

Care to speculate out loud? :?

I'll speculate out loud... But it's 100% pure conjecture - the first is more likely, the second is likely pure BS...

I figure it's either one of two things:

1) The press coverage of the event would likely generate too many questions about the AZ/TX battery issues and Nissan would rather stick it's head in the sand.
- or -
2) The press coverage of the event would likely entail factory tours which would make it very hard to conceal the fact that they *do* actually have a new battery pack in the works that they want to surprise us with.

...debate...

I don't buy into either one of those. If we knew the original invite list the answer could be obvious. I'm sure they're probably disappointed in what happened, but for whatever (political) reason there's nothing they can do about it.

 

[Herm]

Today, the Nissan Battery factory in Cacia, Portugal, began constructions.
The revolution is starting to move here as well...

Essiemme, are they building another factory in England or is this the only one for Europe?

 

[KJD]

This is what Brad Berman said about the cancelation.

The cancelation of the grand ceremony allows Nissan to avoid media scrutiny about low sales, or the need to answer questions about how the company will reverse the trend. According to Nashville Public Radio, a Nissan spokesperson said scheduling conflicts have been encountered “among key stakeholders.”

http://www.plugincars.com/nissan-cancels-grand-opening-ev-battery-plant-125259.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The part about avoiding scrutiny about low sales is very believable to me. What do you guys think about this ?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Today, the Nissan Battery factory in Cacia, Portugal, began constructions.
The revolution is starting to move here as well...

Essiemme, are they building another factory in England or is this the only one for Europe?

English Factory will be next online in just under a year

 

[mkjayakumar]

You can avoid the media, but you can't hide from reality.

New chemistry or not, without a TMS they are toast in hot climates

 

[TonyWilliams]

You can avoid the media, but you can't hide from reality.

New chemistry or not, without a TMS they are toast in hot climates

Very true, but I honestly don't even think this is much of a factor for low sales. As far as Joe SixPack is concerned, it goes 100 miles (which isn't enough), and cost too much compared to the Versa or other cheap car.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

You can avoid the media, but you can't hide from reality.

New chemistry or not, without a TMS they are toast in hot climates

Very true, but I honestly don't even think this is much of a factor for low sales. As far as Joe SixPack is concerned, it goes 100 miles (which isn't enough), and cost too much compared to the Versa or other cheap car.

which is the problem. Joe has misguided notions about what an EV can really do for him and guess where that guidance came from?