Electric pickup truck start-up Lordstown Motors is pursuing a US$200 million loan from a U.S. Energy Department program to retool a former General Motors factory in northeast Ohio, Chief Executive Steve Burns told Reuters.
Burns met with Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette on Monday for about an hour and the company was holding additional talks with officials on Tuesday from the Energy Department's Loan Program Office."We think we are worthy of government help. We don't want a handout - we want a loan," Burns told Reuters in an interview."It's just going to be more jobs faster if we get it. We are viable without it.
A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers wrote Brouillette last week offering"strong support" for the loan, saying northeast Ohio was dealt a"severe blow" by the plant closing. GM last year agreed to loan Lordstown Motors US$40 million to acquire and retool the plant. Burns hopes to repay GM's loan"in a few weeks."