Zoomi Life

Everyone wants government money. It seems that all of the electric vehicle manufacturers, whether making parts, batteries, or cars want in on that cheap Department of Energy cash. Matthew Lesko is already working on a new book with a working title of “Get FREE Government Money For Your Electric Car Company!”*

Read More: More Department of Energy Loans and Foibles: Tesla, Aptera, and More

The U.S. Treasury Department told General Motors on April 13th to begin laying the groundwork for a June 1st bankruptcy filing. GM is currently running on emergency government bailouts.

Read More: GM Told To Prepare For “Surgical” Bankruptcy

The Obama Administration plans to send another $285 million in funding to Detroit to purchase 17,600 new vehicles from the Big 3 before June 1st. The loose requirements for these “green” vehicles is that they manage to get at least 10% improvements in overall fuel efficiency from their counterparts.

Read More: More Bailouts for the Big 3 in Detroit

According to information found in an updated business plan that was presented to the U.S. government yesterday, General Motors is currently requesting an additional $2.6B in low-interest loans to support the development of two new electric cars in addition to their planned Volt PHEV.

Read More: GM to Create Two More Electric Cars in Addition to the Volt

Established in 2007, the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan program (overseen by the Department of Energy) has yet to loan out even a penny. Surprised?

Read More: New York Times: “$25 Billion For EVs Still Untouched”

Two recent pieces of information do a lot to undermine General Motor’s public face of “struggling, but in there” Rocky Balboa facade. The first are the huge losses the company posted for last year, which marks gigantic losses for four years in a row for GM. The second is a recent study on the price point of the upcoming Volt.

Read More: GM, The Volt, and Bankruptcy

Obama’s “stimulus” package (I’ll try not to get political here) includes some pretty decent tax breaks for purchasing alternative-fueled vehicles. In the big picture, the credits were originally set for a total of 250,000 vehicles, but have now expanded to 200,000 vehicles PER MANUFACTURER. That’s a big jump and one that could pump up vehicle sales.

Read More: The Electric Car Stimulus Plan

Both General Motors and Chrysler are again begging for bailout funds. They want another $14 billion (to make their total bailout now $39 billion). They started asking for the increased handout Tuesday.

Read More: Detroit Still Begging At the Bailout Trough

General Motors, not satisfied with the billions in bailout funds the Bush administration lavished on them after their month-long begathon last year, has now called on major cities (especially San Francisco) to “become plug-in ready.”

Read More: GM Not Content With Bailout Money: Wants San Francisco to Pony Up Too

Chrysler (finally) figured out their weak spot: a total lack of small, fuel-efficient cars. They’ve made a move to fix that by penning a deal with Fiat. The deal, from Fiat’s perspective, is pretty sweet and sour. They get 35% of Chrysler in exchange for Chrysler having full access to their small car platforms for development and rebranded sale.

Read More: Chrysler Gets Bailout From Fiat