NY Times reports that the US Department of Energy has released the first third of an estimated $25 billion in low interest “green-tech” loans to automakers. The big winners are Ford Motors which received $5.9 billion, Nissan at $1.6 billion and Tesla Motors at $465 million. The uses vary:
Ms. Cischke [environmental vice president at Ford] said the financing would be applied to improving the fuel efficiency of more than a dozen Ford cars and trucks, including the Focus, Escape, Mustang, Taurus and F-150 pickup. Nissan’s $1.6 billion will be applied to retrofitting its Smyrna, Tenn., plant to build the company’s forthcoming (and as yet unnamed) electric sedan. Construction is expected to start in late 2012. Tesla was perhaps the wild card in the funding equation because it is a small start-up. The company has delivered slightly more than 500 Roadsters to customers, and the government loan will help pay for a Southern California manufacturing plant for the Model S sedan, due in 2011. A second plant in the Bay Area will make battery packs and electric drivetrains for the Roadster, the Model S and Daimler’s Smart car.
General Motors and Chrysler were shut out from this round of loans due to their current bankrupt status.