In January 2010, the Department of Energy issued a $465 million, low-interest loan to a struggling company with big dreams of building an electric future, but little in the way of commercial traction. The loan was designed to help the company achieve its plans to bring a viable product to market. “This is an investment in our clean energy future that will create jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said at the time. “This is part of a sustained effort to develop and commercialize technologies that will be broadly deployed.”
Three years later, that company, Tesla, had enjoyed so much success that it was able to repay the loan early and in full. “I would like to thank the Department of Energy and the members of Congress,” Tesla C.E.O. Elon Musk said, “and particularly the American taxpayer from whom these funds originate.” Musk had good reason to be grateful: Tesla had been on the brink. In 2009, the company had sold just 937 cars, lost tens of millions of dollars, and almost run out of cash. But with the government loan secured, Musk was able to take the company public in 2010 and bring the Model S into production. Today, Tesla has a market cap of more than a trillion dollars—and Musk was able to finance his purchase of Twitter by selling some of his Tesla stock.
