After Nissan's Leaf electric car failed to meet its sales goal for the past two years, the company decided to expand the use of the factory making its batteries to supply parts for hybrid vehicles as well.

The Tennessee factory was funded with a $1.4 billion loan from the Energy Department and opened late last year to make components for the Leaf. But the car sold fewer than 10,000 units in the past two years, falling short of a goal of servicing 200,000 vehicles.

"It's a damned expensive plant, so we want to use it as much as possible," said Andy Palmer, Nissan's executive vice president.

In the last year, Leaf sales grew by 1.5 percent.

Components and batteries for the Nissan NV200 model and Infiniti LE electric sedan -- slated for production in 2014 -- can be produced at the Tennessee plant (Alan Ohnsman, Bloomberg, Jan. 15). -- MM