Tennessee no longer participates in an incentive program that helps sell the plug-in Nissan Leaf, which is
manufactured in Smyrna, Tenn.No Volunteer support for Leaf?
The Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn., will reap the benefits of eight other states signing an agreement to keep a $2,500 electric car incentive going. Meanwhile, Tennessee has put the brakes on the program that would have helped Tennesseans put more zero-emissions cars like the Nissan Leaf on the road.
Say what? The plant that makes the Leaf is in Tennessee and employs about 6,400 people, but the Volunteer State is steering clear of a program that helps sell the plug-in cars?
That’s right. Last Jan. 31, Tennessee’s purchase incentive for the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt went away, and this week, Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration said Tennessee will not join a renewed e-car incentive program because “market-driven” support is better.
Nissan sold more than 16,000 Leafs through the first nine months of the year — about 60 cars a day and three times that of the year before. That sounds like demand to me.
But, apparently, there are state conflicts. Conflicts such as oil businesses and gas taxes.