Automaker awaits loan to build local battery plant
Columbus Dispatch – Ohio continues its long wait for the government to decide whether to approve a loan for Coda Automotive, a decision that will determine whether the company will bring a battery plant to central Ohio – and more than 1,000 jobs.
Coda, based in Santa Monica, Calif., applied for a loan from the U.S. Department of Energy more than a year ago. The $500 million-plus loan, part of the agency’s Advanced Vehicle Technology Manufacturing program, is the key component in paying for the proposed plant.
The agency anticipates that it will announce decisions for some of the applicants this year, said spokeswoman Stephanie Mueller. She had no further information about specific companies.
Several outside observers previously had speculated that an answer might come in the second quarter of this year, a period that has ended. Coda, though, has never said when it expects a decision.
