Feds Deny Funding to Carbon Motors for E7 Police Cruisers

William Santana Li, chairman of Indiana based Carbon Motors Corp; the company that’s been pushing forward plans to develop a next generation police cruiser, was understandably not impressed at the Department of Energy’s decision to not grant the company a loan to develop the vehicle, named E7.

“We are outraged by the actions of the DOE and it is clear that this was a political decision in a highly charged, election-year environment,” Santana Li declared.

According to a statement released by Carbon Motors, the company has been in regular contact with the DOE and didn’t receive any word that its application under the Advanced Technology Manufacturing Program had been withdrawn.

The program, originally instigated under the Bush Administration, provides $25 billion in funding to the auto industry to promote the development of fuel efficient vehicles to lessen the country’s dependence on oil from overseas.

In a statement to Automotive News, a spokesman for the DOE Damien LaVera, said, “over the last two and a half years, the department has worked with Carbon Motors to try to negotiate a deal that supported their business while protecting the taxpayers,” and went on to say, “while we were not able to come to an agreement on terms that would protect the taxpayers, we continue to believe that Carbon Motors is an innovative company with an interesting project and we wish them luck.”

Carbon Motors says it already has orders for some 500 E7s and in 2010 entered to a deal with BMW to supply some 240,000 3.0-liter engines for the cars. With no money coming from the Feds, the company stated it is now pursuing other options to raise capital for the project.

Source: [ Auto News]