Earth Equity News

DOE Finalizes $5.9 Billion Loan to Ford. SustainableBusiness.com, September 17, 2009. "The Department of Energy (DOE) on Thursday announced that it has closed on its loan offer of $5.9 billion to Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) to transform factories across Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio to produce more fuel efficient models. The loan is part of the Department's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program (ATVMP), and the loan for Ford Motor Company is the first to be finalized since the program was appropriated in the fall of 2008. On June 23, 2009, DOE issued a conditional loan commitment to Ford to finance up to 80% of qualified expenditures to improve the efficiency of light vehicles by using technologies that improve internal combustion engines and transmissions, reduce vehicle weight, reduce vehicle drag with more aerodynamic designs, and improve vehicle efficiency through the development of hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles. The loan proceeds [are intended to] enable Ford to raise the fuel efficiency of more than a dozen popular models, representing close to two million new vehicles annually, and save more than 200 million gallons of gas a year."