Department of Energy Looking At Suppliers For Revamped Fuel-Efficiency Loan Program

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

Established in the waning days of the Bush Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program lent a total of $8.3 billion (out of the budgeted $25 billion) to Nissan, Tesla, Ford and Fisker, yet has not been able to make new loans for a number of reasons since 2011.

That status, however, is about to change.

Autoblog Green reports DOE secretary Earnest Moniz announced the program will be retooled with a focus upon suppliers. Improvements to the program will include clarifying eligibility requirements for potential applicants, better responsiveness toward applicants, and a revised application process.

As for said applicants, the program wants to bring in companies who help make fuel-efficient vehicles possible, including suppliers of “advanced engines and powertrains, light-weighting materials, advanced electronics, and fuel-efficient tires.”

Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

More by Cameron Aubernon

Comments
Join the conversation
 15 comments
  • CRConrad CRConrad on Apr 03, 2014

    Did Alvar Aalto draw the DoE's building (which I assume that is in the pic) too? See this typical piece of his from Helsinki: https://www.google.com/imghp?q=helsinki+talo+enso

    • See 1 previous
    • CRConrad CRConrad on Apr 03, 2014

      @Cameron Aubernon Ah, so they just plagiarized him. ;-) Naah, probably not. Could have been the other way around, for all I know. (Though I think he did buildings in that style before then. But then, maybe so did they.) It's like with cars, every now and then everybody realises how similar everything in the old style looks, so... Everybody adopts exactly the same new style. And then they complain to their kids how interchangeable everything looks nowadays. Yeah, well, newsflash, Dad: Just like you thought *your* Dad was nuts, going on about how similar all cars looked when you were young and he no more, and you longed to tell him that his cherished 1930s cars all looked exactly the same with their running boards and upright radiators... JUST like that, all the cars from *your* cherished 1950s looked exactly the same to me, each with the same humongous chrome-grin grilles up front and silly aerospace fins in back; and JUST as silly as Grampa to you, did you sound to me with your absurd claim that all the fine and infinitely varied automobiles of *my* cherished decade (the 1970s, in this case) "all look alike"!

  • Gtrslngr Gtrslngr on Apr 03, 2014

    Truth is ... the DOE along with the entire US Government needs to get its nose the h*ll out of the Auto Industry and in fact all Industries completely . Fact is each and every place the DOE and the Feds in general [ general .. hint hint .. I'll say no more ] stuck their noses in .. subsidized .. given low interest guaranteed loans etc has come back to bite us ( Tax Payers ) on the @$& .. each and every time . From TESLA [ who despite the rhetoric still owes the Feds a godawful bundle ] to Fisker .. to Detroit Electric .. to SpaceX etc ... and right on down to the SSDD SNAFU that is GM [ sorry ] and FCA ... we've [ tax payers ] taken it on the chin while the owners/investors of those businesses .. Green or otherwise ... have taken us .... for a bundle . Enough already !

    • See 9 previous
    • JPWhite JPWhite on Apr 03, 2014

      @SCE to AUX That makes two of us. I'd like to know how you concluded Tesla owes the Feds loan money. Didn't you hear? they paid it back early.

  • Pinzgauer Pinzgauer on Apr 03, 2014

    Is that a, early 80's Sentra Wagon in that pic? My brother had a really mint 5-speed Sentra Wagon in the late 90's, until he smashed it. It was actually a nice care, and I loved that you could open the rear vent windows from the drivers seat. Actually, I love that it just had rear vent windows. Those were great.

Next