It is a drop in the bucket compared to the $25+ billion set aside for loans to promote alternative fuel vehicles. Hell, at least this money is going to a company based in America, unlike the $1.6 billion that is being loaned to Nissan North America to build a factory. The flip side is Nissan will most likely pay back their loan. I suspect the loan to Tesla will need to be written off once they declare bankruptcy in 5-10 years.
To put it in perspective though, I doubt Toyota could have developed the Prius if not for a loan from the Japanese government that I believe was estimated at $9 billion.
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