And the stimulus money goes to…

If you recall, a big chunk of stimulus money ($25 billion) was made available for car companies who are on the road to developing electric cars.  Both the big auto giants and the lightweight electric start-ups applied for as much of said money as possible, and the Department of Energy is moments away from announcing the lucky winners.

Although the DOE has made no official announcement, the Detroit Free Press has leaked that the winners are going to be: Tesla, Nissan and Ford (which explains why this particular publication was so eager to spread the good news early).  Let’s take a look at each

Nissan – Lest you worry that US stimulus dollars are funding industry abroad, rest assured; Nissan will have to use the money in-house under the conditions of the loan.  This means we’ll likely be seeing EVs coming out of Smyrna, TN – a town which, despite a modest Wikipedia entry, boasts a Nissan manufacturing plant.  Nissan says it expects to be selling EVs for commercial fleets by 2010 and then start rolling out cars for consumers like us in 2012.

Tesla – Thanks to the $350 million Tesla is expected to get, the Model S may have been saved from death-by-lack of funding.  ABG speculates that Daimler’s recent financial support of the company may have convinced the DEO that Tesla is good, stable investment.  As for how the DOE justifies using the nation’s money to help build a car that most Americans can’t afford (estimated in the ballpark of $50,000)… ok maybe it doesn’t make all the sense in the world, but – like most other EcoGeeks – the DOE appreciates Tesla nonetheless and wants it to succeed.  After all, you can’t kill the company whose cars are the sex symbols of green technology.

Ford – But of course. The stimulus loans would be downright un-American if they left out this icon of American auto ingenuity.  And it would be downright crazy to invest the money into the other two icons of American auto ingenuity – GM and Chrysler – currently wallowing in the mire of bankruptcy … yes, Ford is a good choice.  Not too many details on what they are actually going to produce, but there is talk of a plug in EV of their own.

Via ABG