Tesla Secures Financing for Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Plant
Tesla Motors, Inc. took another step closer to obtaining the manufacturing capacity to build electric vehicles, closing on a $465 loan from the Department of Energy last week. Plans are to use the Southern California plant, which will be located in Palo Alto, to build the model S electric sedan. The plant will also manufacture battery packs, electric motors and vehicle control equipment for Tesla’s vehicles and for sale to other auto manufacturers. Tesla plans to begin volume production of the model S in 2012, and says it will be capable of producing 20,000 vehicles per day by the end of 2013.
The model S is expected to get between 160 miles and 300 miles on a single charge. Of course, the vehicle’s success will hinge on the number of charging stations on the highways. The Web site evchargernews lists 15 Tesla charger stations in California.
Thursday’s loan arrangement is the second from the DOE to a vehicle manufacturer. In September 2009, the DOE signed its first loan agreement for $5.9 billion to the Ford Motor Co. It has also signed conditional commitments with Nissan North America, Inc. and Fisker Automotive. Nissan plans to build electric cars and battery packs at the company’s Smyrna, Tenn. manufacturing complex, while Fisker has announced plans to build plug-in hybrid electric vehicles by reopening a shuttered GM plant in Wilmington, Del.
