Nissan North America has begun installing 30 solar-assisted charging stations at its Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant and the company's headquarters in Franklin.

The chargers, which will be operational by July 1, are the latest in the company's string of local investments. Read more about it here.

Officials at Nissan say they are moving up a number of downtime days at their Smyrna and Decherd plants that had been scheduled later in the year into this month because of the continuing effects of last month's Japan earthquake. The company already has temporarily shut down its factories in Mississippi and Mexico because of the disaster.