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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.

Fisker Automotive reached an deal with battery maker A123 Systems today to provide lithium-ion batteries for the Karma plug-in hybrid car. The announcement came one day after Fisker broke off with battery supplier Ener1. The Karma will have a range of 50 full-electric miles on a charge of A123′s lithium-ion battery system and a total range of 300 miles with an on-board generator turned by a traditional  four-cylinder gasoline engine. The Karma features 403 hp and is designed to go from 0 to 60 mph in about six seconds, reaching a top speed of 125 mph.

A123 plans to manufacture the cells and systems at its Livonia, Mich. facility with production slated to commence later this year. A123 also announced its intent to invest up to $23 million in Fisker Automotive’s current funding round, consisting of $13 million in cash and $10 million in A123 common stock. A123 announced today that it has begun to make investments in its 300,000 square foot plant in Livonia to expand the final cell assembly capacity.

Fisker Automotive's Karma electric vehicle. Source: Fisker Automotive

Ener1, the lithium-ion battery supplier, reportedly has dropped its bid to supply batteries for the Karma, Fisker Automotive’s luxury plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. According to the Detroit Free Press, Henrik Fisker, CEO of Fisker, said talks were dropped because the EnerDel unit of Ener1, would not be able to meet the automaker’s production requirements for the Karma. The announcement was made jointly by Fisker and Charles Gassenheimer, CEO of Ener1, at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit. Fisker said he would announce another battery supplier for the vehicle by the end of this week. EnerDel signed a letter of intent to supply the lithium-ion batteries for the Karma in May of last year. At the time Fisker announced plans to build 15,000 vehicles per year.

Ener1 continues to be involved in the electric vehicle market. In September it teamed up with Volvo to provide lithium-ion batteries for the Volvo C30 Battery Electric Vehicle prototype. The battery supplier also collaborated with Volvo on the plug-in hybrid V70 demonstration vehicles that have been road-tested in Europe. Ener1 also holds an equity stake in the Norwegian electric vehicle producer Think Global and has a long-term battery supply agreement with that automaker.

President Obama today announced the award of $2.3 billion in new clean manufacturing projects across the United States. The award comes on the heels of a dismal jobs report that 85,000 jobs vanished in December. Employment in manufacturing declined by 27,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since the beginning of the recession manufacturing employment has fallen by 2.1 million.

Today’s announcement may only put a small dent in those massive losses, but at least it is a step to build domestic manufacturing capacity for renewable energy technology. The funds will come in the form of Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits, which will support 183 projects in 43 states. The investment tax credits are worth up to 30% of each planned project. It’s estimated that the tax credits will leverage private capital for a total investment of $7.7 billion in high-tech manufacturing in the U.S.

The projects include:

• Itron, Inc., which manufactures a smart meter for the residential market.
• W.L. Gore & Associates,, Inc., which produces a membrane for fuel cells for buildings and vehicles.
• PPG Industries, Inc., which produces a double anti-reflective coating for glass to make solar sells more efficient.
• TPI Composites, Inc., which is building a new manufacturing facility in Nebraska to produce composite wind turbine blades.

The projects selected for the tax credit will be in service by 2014; about a third of the projects will be completed this year. The 183 projects selected today will produce solar, wind and geothermal energy equipment; fuel cells, microturbines and batteries; electric cars; electric grids to support renewable energy; energy conservation technologies; and equipment that captures and sequesters carbon dioxide or reduces greenhouse gas emissions. A full list of the selected projects is here.

There’s an interesting story on Bloomberg.com about the clash between carmakers and the Department of Energy over hydrogen powered vehicles. General Motors, Toyota and other automakers want to sell zero-emission cars powered by hydrogen within six years, according to the story. Costs to produce hydrogen-powered vehicles have fallen drastically from a staggering $1 million per vehicles a few years ago. GM, Toyota, Honda and Daimler AG are working toward the goal of a $3,600 premium compared to a mid-sized gasoline model. GM alone has spent $1.5 billion on fuel cell research, according to Charles Freese, executive director of GM’s fuel cell research program.

The U.S. has provided more than $10 billion in low-cost loans and grants this year for production of electric cars, batteries and charging infrastructure. By contrast, hydrogen funding was initially gutted, according to the article. In May Energy Secretary Steven Chu recommended a 60% budget cut for hydrogen projects, saying  batteries and bio-fuels were a better near-term solution.

In September GM, Toyota, Honda, Daimler, Hyundai, Kia Motors, Renault and Nissan released a statement Sept. 9 saying they shared a goal to create a fuel-cell vehicle market within six years. Germany plans 1,000 hydrogen planning stations by 2015 and Japan plans a similar number. California, where more of the hydrogen fuel cell cars are tested in the U.S., currently lists 23 hydrogen fueling stations. “The advances that have been made by the automobile manufacturers are remarkable,” said  Scott Samuelson, director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine. “Infrastructure is the Achilles’ heel.” He estimates that 32 hydrogen pumps would be sufficient to support an initial consumer market.

Cleantech, a catchall term for alternative energy, efficient power distribution and energy storage, is set to become the dominant investment for venture capital over the next few years, surpassing biotechnology and software, according to an article in the New York Times today. The Obama administration has pledged to $150 billion over the next decade, which it says could create 5 million jobs–far short of the 7.2 jobs wiped out during this recession. And if that were to happen, it would require massive retraining of the right skills.

Still, it’s encouraging to see cleantech generating excitement among investors. As noted by the Times, the successful start-ups today could be the big players tomorrow:

• GreatPoint Energy, which has developed a cheaper way to convert coal into natural gas. The company plans to break ground on a power plant in Houston next year. It counts Suncor Energy, Peabody Energy and Dow Chemical Co. as its investors.
• A123 Systems, a supplier of lithium ion batteries for electric cars.
• Tendril Networks, which develops software that links utilities to “smart” appliances in the home.

Things a moving along on the wind front as well. Today Duke Energy and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced they have signed a contract to place up to three demonstration wind turbines in the Pamlico Sound. The demonstration turbines may be the first turbines placed in water in the United States, according to the press release. Duke Energy will pay for the turbines and their installation. The turbines builds on a nine-month study completed in June 2009 by UNC for the North Carolina General Assembly which found “North Carolina is well positioned to develop utility-scale wind energy production.”