Bright Automotive News

Two companies with major Indiana operations - Carbon Motors Corp. and Bright Automotive - both recently disclosed that the Energy Department had rejected their requests for loans as part of the government's $25 billion auto retooling program.

An Indiana senator who last fall became one of the most vocal critics of the government's automaker advanced tech loan program -- calling it a process of picking winners and losers among private companies -- had earlier lobbied the Energy Department to hurry up and approve the loan requests of companies based in his state.

Over the past year I've seen a recurring scenario with the Department of Energy's green car loans, and it's not a pretty sight.

Bright Automotive was counting on a U.S. government loan to build a factory for its hybrid utility van, but after three years of waiting, it's forced to shut down.

Bright Automotive, a promising start-up company developing hybrid plug-in delivery vans for fleet customers, closed its doors this week after running out of money.