Tesla Motors and Government Money

[vfx]

Admittedly it is lame when reporters go down the "they have only sold XXX!!" when they don't qualify that by explaining that they have another 1000 people who have given very significant deposits.

Graham is on fire today. I'll go with the "lame" assessment.

 

[dpeilow]

Auto Loan Program Delayed - Bureaucratic Hurdles Slow Auto Loan Program - washingtonpost.com

And for smaller companies, like Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors, the loans are needed to expand their businesses.

"Before the holidays you took care of incumbents, Detroit," said Diarmuid O'Connell, Tesla's vice president of corporate development. "Now it's time to stimulate the innovative automotive technology that will take us to a new level and set up the industrial base of the future."

 

[graham]

Breaking: Tesla to Unveil Model S Sedan on March 26 and Has Been Accepted for $350 M in Government Loans to Build it - AllCarsElectric.com

Tesla Motor Company CEO Elon Musk has just announced that the US DOE has granted their request for loans and will be receiving $350 million in loans within 4 to 5 months that will go towards producing the 4-door 5 -seat Model S electric sedan.. This they say will allow them to have the car in production in 2011.
Furthermore Tesla now plans to unveil a "street-drivable prototype of the Model S four door sedan" at the SpaceX rocket factory on March 26th.

 

[SByer]

As a gesture of gratitude for their early support, Roadster owners will receive a $10,000 discount off the price of the Model S Signature series and automatically be first in line for the sedan.

That's the first mention of an additional discount that I've seen.

 

[Tdave]

They haven't actually been approved for the loans yet. Those previous news stories were incorrect. From:

Tesla Talks Up $350M in Loans, But Lingers in Limbo at DOE

“Regarding funding,” writes CEO Elon Musk, “I am excited to report that the Department of Energy informed Tesla last week that they expect to disburse funds from our $350M Model S loan application within four to five months.”

But in fact Tesla has not yet been awarded any funds, and its application remains in the “financial viability and technical merit stage” of evaluation, which involves opening up the company books to the government, according to spokesperson Rachel Konrad.

 

[Tdave]

And an AP story that states the same facts, but uses the word "expects" in the title:

Tesla expects to get $350M in government funds

 

[doug]

ruuu roh...

Timeline Revealed for DOE Loan Program: Don’t Get Your Hopes Up Earth2Tech

Energy Secretary Steven Chu wanted checks cut in four weeks. Today, the director of the Department of Energy’s much-delayed loan guarantee program for clean energy technology, David Frantz, revealed what he sees as a realistic timeline: In testimony today before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, he said that while the program will begin disbursing loans this year, guarantees for projects that require environmental impact statements will not go through until 2010. This means more waiting for the program’s first round of 16 finalists, including Solyndra, Beacon Power and Tesla Motors (which has also requested low-interest loans under a separate DOE program).

Does Tesla still need an environmental impact statement since it's abandoned that Zanker road 'greenfield' site?

 

[Kevin Harney]

I knew Elon was speaking out of turn again. He just never learns. I am sure that his comments and the stories posted had something to do with the announcement from Chu.

 

[Palpatine]

ruuu roh...

Timeline Revealed for DOE Loan Program: Don’t Get Your Hopes Up Earth2Tech

Does Tesla still need an environmental impact statement since it's abandoned that Zanker road 'greenfield' site?

I think that is for a greenfield site.

If you are not building a new factory, but only moving into an existing factory, there is no new impact on the environment.

That is just my first guess. I am sure we will hear more soon.

 

[dpeilow]

Interesting that Solyndra and Beacon Power are mentioned here, but Tesla aren't:

http://www.gc.energy.gov/NEPA/documents/January2009StatusChart.pdf


Possible that Tesla no longer need one and that is why/because they are moving site?

Perhaps people should hold fire on the EM criticism until we've established the facts...

 

[dpeilow]

This is quite a dumb article...

Tesla Gets Federal Bailout Dough - Where Are The Jobs Going To Be?

I wonder whose payroll this guy is on?

 

[Iz]

The article is filled with inaccuracies. I recall lots of photos of the Roadster tested in Sweden on a frozen lake. The writer's core message however is: "Changing things too fast can cause instability in the supply chain". Read into that sentence and it will explain the writer's angst.

 

[vfx]

At least the commenters did a good job of it.

I LOL'd at the "concert" comment.

 

[dpeilow]

Chu Unveils DOE Changes, Timeline for Stimulus Energy Spending

Secretary Steven Chu has made hasty work of shaking up the Department of Energy. Today the agency announced a series of reforms designed to expedite the dispersal of loans and loan guarantees — changes that the DOE says will position it to start offering loan guarantees from a much-delayed loan guarantee program by late April or early May.

...

It also sheds light on Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk’s recent statement about that company’s loan guarantee application. “Regarding funding,” he wrote in an email to customers last Wednesday, “I am excited to report that the Department of Energy informed Tesla last week that they expect to disburse funds from our $350M Model S loan application within four to five months.” The company later clarified that its application had not been approved, but in fact remained in the financial and technical merit stage of evaluation. If all goes according to Chu’s plan at the DOE, approved projects in Tesla’s cohort could have guarantees disbursed in the 4-5 month time frame that Musk described.

 

[dpeilow]

DOE Alters Loan Application Processes ? Automotive News & Car Rumors at Automobile Magazine

The reforms are meant to address the issue of loan applications leading to delayed fund dispersion - in other words, avoiding what happened to the $25 billion low-interest loan program for fuel-efficient vehicles.

The changes will also help measures from the stimulus bill come to fruition sooner. The DOE says 70 percent of the money it receives from the stimulus will be dispersed by the end of next year. Projects that will be supported by money from the DOE include smart grids, advanced batteries, alternative-fuel vehicles, and several clean energy initiatives.

 

[Joseph]

"The DOE says 70 percent of the money it receives from the stimulus will be dispersed by the end of next year."

In other words, loans won't be dispersed till 2011. BAD news.

 

[Tdave]

Different bill. Different payout.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Where's the $25 Billion for Efficient Cars? - KickingTires

According to this article they have got the applications down to 25 firms from 75; this is for the $350 million loan. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says he hopes to make first payments available April or May.

I guess this means we'll soon know if Tesla was accepted or rejected from the application.

 

[TEG]

$25 Billion to Promote Electric Cars Is Untouched

 

[TEG]

I noticed the following has been posted a bunch of different places today:

Smart Windows Open Up More Funding for SAGE Earth2Tech
The Tesla Model S Controversy Unmasked - Green Daily
New Tesla Model S teaser surfaces
Another Peek at the Tesla Model S

That is not the real story.. the real story is that the Bush Administration set out to kill Tesla because previous Washington DC was owned and controlled by big oil who also owns Detroit. Tesla turned in all of its paperwork for the multiple DOE loans, WHICH HAD BEEN CREATED UINDER LAW AS EMERGENCY FUNDING TO BE DELIVERED IN 2008 AND NO LATER! And DOE buried the funding and delayed it until Tesla was financially ruined. It should have taken 3 people, 4 days to look over Tesla’s application. They have INTENTIONALLY DELAYED the DOE 136 Money and Loan Guarantee money for FIVE MONTHS in order to kill Tesla. They had the paperwork for almost half a year yet the only looked at it A FEW DAYS AGO because they were ordered to by the NEW White House according to a top former Tesla Exec. There should be a corruption investigation that ties big oil to certain Bush Executives, some of whom are STILL THERE!

wow