Tesla Gets DoE Loan: A $465m shot in the battery

Tesla Motors will receive one of the first loans from the U.S. Department of Energy's $25 billion automakers' assistance program. The Silicon Valley electric car builder will use the funds to complete development of its Model S sedan and electric power trains being licensed to other auto manufacturers, such as Mercedes-Benz.

The DoE loan is reported to be $465m. Added to the $50m invested last month by Daimler plus the debt and equity already invested in the company, Tesla now sports a $700m capital war chest. Tesla plans to use $365m of the DoE monies to bring the Model S into production with the remainder going to customer power train development.

The sticker on the Model S should come in around $50k, or roughly half the price of the groundbreaking Tesla Roadster which absorbed all upfront development costs for the sporty little electric car.

Check out OnCars' three-part video series on the Model S - Design, Pure Electric and Showtime.