Maybe Charlotte will become a hub o'green after all?

A Charlotte-based company heavily involved in the "green" industry is expanding operations with a new facility in Concord that will add 209 jobs, industry and government officials announced Wednesday morning.

Celgard, which is developing lithium batteries for electric cars, chose the Cabarrus County site over locations in Georgia and South Carolina, officials said. The company initially said it planned an expansion near Aiken, S.C., but it decided to consider other locations.

Celgard also announced an expansion of its Charlotte site. Total cost of the expansion is estimated at $91 million, according to state commerce officials.

The new jobs will pay an average of $56,960, not including benefits, according to state officials. That is well over the averages of $32,396 for jobs in Cabarrus County and $48,776 in Mecklenburg County.

Read the rest of this Charlotte Observer article, by Steve Lyttle, here.

Here's one pimped out electric race car (that's right — I said RACE car). It's called the "White Zombie" and its owner says, "It feels good knowing I'm not running on foreign oil." Damn skippy. Watch it take on a Corvette and a BMW M3 — and kick their asses. Then, stay tuned for the electric motorcycle that goes from zero to 60 mph in two seconds. TWO. "It's the batteries, stupid."