Aside from the development and production of the two environmentally-friendly lines of vehicles, the GM plant will also open up at least 2000 jobs for plenty of qualified American assembly workers. Because of the pending projects, economic experts also foresee more employment opportunities coming from service providers and domestic parts providers.

The Fisker projects are also set to contribute to reduced carbon emmicions and cleaner air. According to Secretary Chu, the release of these hybrid cars should put the production of American environmentally-friendly vehicles at the forefront of automotive design and production.

Initially, the money from the loan will be used by Fisker for qualifying engineering costs. This will be conducted in Irvine California, with the engineers designing tools and equipment and working on efficient manufacturing processes. The Karma should hit the showrooms in 2010, with the Project Nina hitting the assembly lines by late 2012.

These Fisker cars will run on electric engines which get their power from rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries. Once the power is depleted, the car will then use and efficient, gas-powered engine.

Both lines of hybrid vehicles will have an all-electric tailpipe, emission free range of forty to fifty miles when they’re fully charged. The cars can be conveniently charged at home, and the production of these vehicles is set to reduce America’s dependence on oil.

The CEO of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, tries to convince everyone that it might not be the picture of the near future. Automakers recently had a convention in Michigan to discuss the future of the industry including the upcoming technologies and vehicles.

During the briefing, the spotlight was on the hybrids from GM and also on the EV being developed by Nissan. A lot of car manufacturers hinted that they are also developing their own electric vehicles but none of them believed that EVs will dominate the market anytime soon.

The forecast of the Nissan topman suggests that EVs will get a small chunk of the global car industry with 10% of sales in a matter 10 years. Through that time period further engine technologies and possibilities will be enhanced or be developed.

Product development though of car makers is still on hybrids, diesels, and the usual gas run engines. No one denies though that EVs will get a foothold into the market. So for now, Nissan and other car makers will sell what can sell and continue to experiment and perfect their EV concepts.