Nissan

Nissan's early commitment to push its autos from the pump to the plug is paying off.

In June came the news that the automaker landed $1.6 billion in lucrative loans to electrify American cars. And now the company has won another $200 million to help deploy the charging network that will power them.

When it happens, it will be the largest roll out of electric charging stations and electric vehicles in the history of the world, by far.

Half the funding will flow from the Obama administration's $2.4 billion electric car grant program. The other half will come from local project participants.

All of it is a sign that Nissan, the Obama government and certain states are serious about achieving technology leadership in producing the car of the future.

Japanese motor giant Nissan will begin building electric vehicles and batteries in the United States as soon as 2010, thanks to U.S. government incentives announced today.

The news carries a promise of green jobs for a struggling section of Tennessee. It also means that a cut of the $25 billion auto stimulus package that Congress passed last September will be going to a foreign company.

Nissan won approval from the Department of Energy (DOE) for $1.6 billion in special low-interest loans earmarked for making American vehicles greener. Ford and electric car start-up Tesla Motors were the other recipients, landing loans of $5.9 billion and $465 million, respectively.

The decision by the DOE to include the Tokyo-based automaker is yet another sign of Japan's rising clout in the world's nascent EV market.

Detroit’s Big 3 automakers may finally be gearing up for the auto efficiency age.

Too bad it took so friggin’ long.

Last week, international consulting firm Global Insight, predicted that the Big 3 will have to pay over twice as much as Japan’s top three automakers to meet America’s interim fuel economy standard of 31.6 mpg by 2015.

About $30.6 billion compared with $14.85 billion. And General Motors alone will have to spend $15 billion.

It’s obvious why.