U.S. Department of Energy loan will fund the construction of a new assembly plant for the Model S and another facility to manufacture electric powertrains.
By Ian Armitage
Tesla Motors has received approval for $465 million in low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The loans are aimed at accelerating the production of affordable, fuel-efficient electric vehicles.
Tesla will use $365 million for production engineering and assembly of the Model S, an all-electric family sedan that travels up to 300 miles per charge.
It will then use $100 million to build a powertrain manufacturing plant. The facility will supply all-electric powertrain solutions to other automakers and create around 650 jobs.
Tesla is in the final stages of negotiation for facilities in California.
ATVM
The loans are part of the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program (ATVM), which provides incentives to automakers to build more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Created in 2007 and appropriated in September 2008, ATVM aims to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil and create new jobs.
“Tesla will use the ATVM loan precisely the way that Congress intended…as the capital needed to build sustainable transport,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
“We are honoured that the U.S. government selected Tesla to be among the first companies to participate in this progressive program.”
Tesla expects to start Model S production in late 2011 in a state-of-the-art assembly plant employing about 1,000 workers.