What Is The Status Of The Atvm Loan?

I personally think they (Uncle Sam) are watching to see how it goes for a while.
Mk

I think you are all describing the same elephant, like the story of the 4 blind men. Each felt a different portion of the beast and described it from the part they had. Our government/economic systems are much the same, the government is very slow and needs connections to work well. Sometimes it even works slowly because there are people who do care and don't want the money to go to a pork barrel boondoggle (a la Bridge to Nowhere), so it moves slowly for that reason too. As for economics, EM is a threat to some portion of Big Auto sales. It doesn't have to be a big portion, any will do because it means less money in their pocket. Never a good thing. So you all have made good and valid observations on our situation. And yes, maybe some of the foot dragging is malicious in intent, but I tend to lean towards bureaucratic foolishness as a reason.

"EM is a threat to some portion of Big Auto sales"

A minuscule portion, way below significance.

BigAuto is one of the tiny number of major markets where all the adored advantages of "free market" and "competition" actually work, delivering highly sophisticated, high value for money vehicles to every price level and taste. BigAuto worries much more about each other's cars than about non-existent, forever-promised Elio.

Govt investments are mostly very conservative and mostly successful, with good return on investment (ie, to taxpayers) and moving the country forward, so if govt invests in Elio, it would an excellent indicator.

Rickb said:

They are not being replaced by the & Elio just not being driven for single driver daily commutes.

Click to expand...

The big makers probably aren't scared yet. If they were they'd make one of their own Elio-clones. It took 5years+ for them to react to the SmartCar. But of course, Smarts were under 10k units per year.

But after it's popular and they see hard 'numbers', only then they will calculate that the Elio saves mileage on the primary vehicle and that does change the formula for new car replacements. People with Elio's likely will buy more expensive cars, but less often. So then, will they worry? They always worry.

grampi said:

How much time do they need to make a decision? I realize that when dealing with anything federal gov wise, it's going to take time (usually a LONG time), but this has gone beyond ridiculous...it's time for the folks at ATVM to sh*t or get off the pot, as they say...

Click to expand...

In previous ATVM threads it was pointed out that the Tesla ATVM loan took one year to be approved. I believe that would put us in the October period. With the accelerated approval process that is in place, this could mean a little sooner than that. Goofyone outlined the many steps involved.

AriLea said:

The big makers probably aren't scared yet. If they were they'd make one of their own Elio-clones. It took 5years+ for them to react to the SmartCar. But of course, Smarts were under 10k units per year.

But after it's popular and they see hard 'numbers', only then they will calculate that the Elio saves mileage on the primary vehicle and that does change the formula for new car replacements. People with Elio's likely will buy more expensive cars, but less often. So then, will they worry? They always worry.

Click to expand...

Worry keeps any business competitive, I'm guessing EM is worried too.

Small cars like the Smart are not well received by USA drivers. That may change with EM's marketing commuter & strategy and the Elio's autocycle platform. Big Auto will follow suit with their three wheeler autocycles if Elio is widely accepted. Elio will maintain the advantage of being the pioneer providing the Elio meets our expectations. I like the idea of competition particularly with the option of evs, luxury, and high performance three wheelers.........oh and tilting for that real feel motorcycle lean.

HHH said:

In previous ATVM threads it was pointed out that the Tesla ATVM loan took one year to be approved. I believe that would put us in the October period. With the accelerated approval process that is in place, this could mean a little sooner than that. Goofyone outlined the many steps involved.

Click to expand...

As I research this morning on Tesla's ATVM loan, it looks like they received their money in late January 2010. Another source mentions late June 2009, but more sources that appear to be legit say late January 2010.

Further research on when Tesla submitted their loan turned up no specific date. But I did find info stating that the very first deadline for the DoE to accept loans was Dec 31, 2008. A teslamotors.com article says that Tesla submitted their loan "when Bush was still in office".

While not for sure, it looks like it took 13 months for Tesla to go from application to funds being granted.

Sources that I found:
http://www.taxpayer.net/images/uplo...ram_Fact_Sheet_-_Sept_2013_Update_-_Final.pdf
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1021697_advanced-auto-tech-loans-go-to-tesla-ford-and-Nissan
http://energy.gov/lpo/tesla
http://www.teslamotors.com/fr_CH/blog/early-repayment-tesla’s-atvm-loan

Elio Motors applied in August. So we can hope for Sept to have heard a yay or nay... hopppppppefully.

grampi said:

How much time do they need to make a decision? I realize that when dealing with anything federal gov wise, it's going to take time (usually a LONG time), but this has gone beyond ridiculous...it's time for the folks at ATVM to sh*t or get off the pot, as they say...

Click to expand...

There is a lot of Republican opposition to any program that might make President Obama succeed at ANYthing, and a more generalized GOP hatred of alternative vehicles or tech of any sort, coupled with a religious hatred of any government involvement in any business other than oil. The back pressure on giving loans to startups is paralyzing.

Welcome Thomas!

Thomas Malkin said:

There is a lot of Republican opposition to any program that might make President Obama succeed at ANYthing, and a more generalized GOP hatred of alternative vehicles or tech of any sort, coupled with a religious hatred of any government involvement in any business other than oil. The back pressure on giving loans to startups is paralyzing.

Click to expand...

Thomas, Welcome to the forum.
Please leave your political BS at home in Illinois!