Tesla Motors and Government Money

stopcrazypp · 11-28-2008, 03:50 PM

Tesla Motors - think
Tesla opposes using advanced vehicle fund for Detroit bailout - AutoblogGreen

Tesla just posted a blog entry showing their disapproval for the plan being pushed by some members of Congress to divert the $25 billion from the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Incentive Program (ATVM) (aka DOE loans) to bailout the Detroit 3 given the current deadlock with the other proposal.

It gives details about what two projects Tesla Motors was referring to earlier:
"The first project is an Advanced Battery and Powertrain Manufacturing facility that would supply batteries and components for Tesla cars and, more importantly, for other automakers. The second project would help us to finance a manufacturing facility to make our second vehicle, a five-passenger sedan known as “Model S.” We submitted our application to the DOE Nov. 16 – three days after the program became official."

WarpedOne · 11-28-2008, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Advanced Battery and Powertrain Manufacturing

Aka TEG - Tesla Energy Group, resurrected.

DDB · 11-28-2008, 04:46 PM

...and we can't let Tesla fail because possibly 3 million jobs depend on it [sarcasm]. I'm no fan of bailouts, but come on, a bit too self-serving here.

Cobos · 11-29-2008, 08:19 AM

Considering the global decline we are heading into many of the Detroit 3's jobs are going to be cut if they get a bailout or NOT. And the fact that many of those millions of jobs are with the suppliers of the Detroit 3 means that they would sell to anyone making cars. Does that have to be GM, Ford and Chrysler? What if Toyota buys up a large chunk of Chrysler, don't you think their American factories will use many of the same suppliers? I fail to see how money set aside for Ford's future lineup could help them today. If they can't afford the development for the cars people want in 3 years then they will be dead in 3 years and will have a huge dept, not to the banks but the US state instead.

I fail to see how that can be good for the US economy except maybe in the very near term, as in next 6 months or so...

Cobos

doug · 11-29-2008, 09:29 AM

Just to be clear, is this ATVM program the same DOE loan guarantee that Elon said Tesla should get pending environmental approval for construction of the San Jose campus?

stopcrazypp · 11-29-2008, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doug

Just to be clear, is this ATVM program the same DOE loan guarantee that Elon said Tesla should get pending environmental approval for construction of the San Jose campus?

It's a little confusing that both of them are DOE loans but it appears they are not the same, the loan guarantee earlier was this one, a different program:
Tesla and 15 others being considered for DOE's Loan Guarantee Program - AutoblogGreen

graham · 11-29-2008, 01:52 PM

Gas 2.0 agrees with Tesla on this one:

Tesla Says Money Shouldn’t be Diverted to Bailout Car Makers : Gas 2.0

Quote:

I happen to fully agree with Tesla on this one. That money is intended to rectify the problems that got the big three into trouble in the first place — that being their lack of foresight and desire for change. As New York Times contributor Micheline Maynard has said, “Detroit [has] proved yet again that it [has] not understood the psyche of American consumers.”

In other words, Detroit missed the boat and made a fatal strategic calculation that people would continue to buy larger and larger cars without nary a second thought.

doug · 11-30-2008, 01:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stopcrazypp

It's a little confusing that both of them are DOE loans but it appears they are not the same, the loan guarantee earlier was this one, a different program:
Tesla and 15 others being considered for DOE's Loan Guarantee Program - AutoblogGreen

Thanks for the clarification.

just-an-allusion · 11-30-2008, 01:48 PM

When you review the language of the ATVMIP in it's entirety, it is implicitly clear that the available funds are not intended for use as a "bailout" by anyone.

doug · 12-01-2008, 01:23 AM

Department of Energy - ATVM Loan Program

http://www.atvmloan.energy.gov/keydocs/finalrule.pdf