Tesla has just announced that it has paid off the entire loan awarded to the company by the Department of Energy in 2010, nine years early.
With all of the accolades that Tesla has received for the its new Model S and posting its first quarterly profit, Tesla is having a great year. NowTesla has just announced that it has paid off the entire loan awarded to the company by the Department of Energy in 2010, nine years early. In addition to payments made in 2012 and Q1 2013, today’s wire of almost half a billion dollars ($451.8M) repays the full loan with interest. Following this payment, Tesla will be the only American car company to have fully repaid the government.
In 2010, Tesla was awarded a milestone-based loan, requiring matching private capital obtained via public offering, by the DOE as part of the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program. This program was signed into law by President Bush in 2008 and then awarded under the Obama administration in the years that followed.
The loan payment was made today using a portion of the approximately $1 billion in funds raised in last week’s concurrent offerings of common stock and convertible senior notes. Elon Musk, Tesla’s Chief Executive Officer and cofounder, purchased $100 million of common equity, the least secure portion of the offering. “I would like to thank the Department of Energy and the members of Congress and their staffs that worked hard to create the ATVM program, and particularly the American taxpayer from whom these funds originate,” said Elon Musk. “I hope we did you proud.”
