Tesla Motors has applied for a $450 million loan from the U.S. government to produce a $60,000 all-electric sedan currently dubbed the Tesla S car. “I am excited to report that the Department of Energy informed Tesla last week that they expect to disburse funds within four or five months,” Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive and chairman, wrote in a newsletter distributed to customers this week. Tesla is hoping to receive the funds as early as this summer, though an Energy Department spokeswoman when contacted about the long-anticipated loan said that the agency “has made no final decisions for specific applications for the auto-loan program.”
The loan, if approved, would come from $25 billion set aside by the federal government to retool the American auto industry to make more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. Tesla said it is looking at locations in California as the most likely sites for the new plant. Of 75 applicants for the federal funds, Tesla is one of only 21 with an application complete enough to be close to an actual award.
Tags: fuel efficient cars, Government funding, Tesla