Fisker Gets $528.7 Million Loan For Plug-In Hybrids

22 September, 2009 03:29:00

Font size:

The U.S. Energy Department has awarded a $528.7 million conditional loan Fisker Automotive to develop two lines of plug-in hybrid vehicles.

The DOE said the loan will result in approximately 5,000 jobs created or saved for domestic parts suppliers and thousands more to manufacture a plug-in hybrid in the U.S.

In the first stage of the program, Fisker Automotive will use a $169.3 million ATVM loan for engineering integration costs as it works with primarily U.S. suppliers to complete the company’s first vehicle, the Fisker Karma.

Engineers will also design tools and equipment and develop manufacturing processes. This work will be conducted at Fisker’s Pontiac, Michigan office with support from its headquarters in Irvine, California. While the final assembly of the Karma will be done overseas, more than 65 percent (based on cost) of the parts required for Karma will come from U.S. suppliers. The four-door Karma is scheduled to appear in showrooms in summer 2010.

The second stage includes a $359.36 million ATVM loan for Fisker’s Project Nina, involving the manufacture of a plug-in hybrid in the U.S. Fisker estimates that up to 75,000-100,000 of these highly efficient vehicles will roll off assembly lines in the U.S. every year beginning in late 2012.

The combined projects are anticipated to create thousands of jobs in the U.S. and provide substantial support for domestic parts suppliers saving or creating approximately 5,000 jobs.

Earlier this year, the DOE gave conditional loan commitments to Ford ($5.9 billion), Nissan ($1.6 billion) and Tesla Motors ($465 million) as part of the DOE’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program. General Motors and Chrysler had to re-apply following their bankruptcies.

Created in 2007 and appropriated in September 2008, the $25 billion ATVM aims to reduce America’s dangerous dependence on foreign oil and create “green collar” jobs.

Subscribe to the RSS feed for more information on green cars, green car news & green car technologies.

-----------------------

Follow PureGreenCars on Facebook and Twitter.