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10/13/2014 - Csmonitor.com - Government Program That Loaned Billions To Tesla, Fisker Restarting

Bilbo B

Bilbo B

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A more generic question - Does anyone know what sort of Lobbying effort Elio has? Considering they're trying to change things at the Federal level and in many states, experienced lobbyists could make a big difference, as well as cost big bucks. I've never seen any reference to exactly how they're working with all the different government entities.
 
Kuda

Kuda

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Jeff Porter said:
Not a great article, but at least it's some kind of news. :) The "good stuff" is:

"One or two new loans are expected to be announced this year, according to Peter W. Davidson,executive director of the DoE's Loan Programs Office."
Click to expand...

Can't help but think Elio is close to closing the deal on the ATVM loan.
Why? Can't qualify unless your financially viable. Selling the unneeded
(w/Comau) equipment puts a lid on that issue. Elio is proving to the
ATVM folks that they can make the 1st yr production without them &
that will seal the deal for sure. Not forgetting the 'Cafe Credit' plan
as well.............http://www.elioowners.com/threads/cafe-credits-standards.3948/page-3#post-55603
cj124.png
 
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T

tonyspumoni

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Smitty901 said:
Federal loans are not based on merit. They are based in politics .It would be great if ELIO can find other cash when the loan does not come..
200 million is just not a lot of money there are so many that could fund that from petty cash.
Click to expand...

Smitty901,

There will certainly be a political dimension to this, but it would have to come from lobbyists (for or against) through legislators. DOE doesn't have $15.9bn in a bank account just setting around waiting for them to spend. They have a congressionally-approved line item for $15.9bn. Since DOE just approves the loan and Treasury pays the bill through this line item, merit will absolutely factor in as well. Someone at DOE has to sign the final docs and that person or that person's boss will have to report back to Congress on the program for DOE at a later date. If they do something incredibly inept - loaning money to a Chinese dirty motorcycle manufacturer on the mainland - Congress will raise h*ll and threaten DOE in other respects. They have lost 2% on their portfolio which, though it sounds modest to us, is unlikely to sit well at all with a skeptical Congress. They will be very, very careful in evaluating this on merit.

The following is a bit dated but gives the backstory to the current political status of the ATVM program:

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-en...hauls-controversial-vehicle-tech-loan-program

No amount of easy web sleuthing yielded news about applications to the ATVM other than EM's, so perhaps the fact that DOE is making a concerted effort to speed the process and the fact that EM is the most obvious applicant may mean that the application DOE hopes to fund is in fact EM's.

On the other hand, Jindal going after DOE indirectly and congress directly isn't likely to win friends at DOE, but this is just politics and his economy probably has more to gain from liberalizing U.S. energy export policy than from pushing for EM and a plant in Shreveport.

http://dailysignal.com/2014/10/16/g...exports-help-u-s-domestically-diplomatically/
 
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Jeff Porter

Jeff Porter

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Kuda said:
Can't help but think Elio is close to closing the deal on the ATVM loan.
Why? Can't qualify unless your financially viable. Selling the unneeded
(w/Comau) equipment puts a lid on that issue. Elio is proving to the
ATVM folks that they can make the 1st yr production without them &
that will seal the deal for sure. Not forgetting the 'Cafe Credit' plan
as well.............http://www.elioowners.com/threads/cafe-credits-standards.3948/page-3#post-55603
cj124.png
Click to expand...

YES, I'm 9 days late, but I remember this episode, and love it. Wile E. is so frustrated, he's poking several large boulders to try to loosen them so they'll fall... right where he is. Thanks Kuda!
 
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