AFS Trinity, the group that touts their 150 mpg Saturn Vue plug-in around the country is made at least their second trip to Washington D.C. in hopes of securing funds from the Department of Energy (DOE for short).
In January of this year, AFS applied for $2.5 billion in loans from the DOE. The loans are available through a program that supports and provides funding for advanced vehicle technologies. The goal of the loans is to provide fund to allow companies to purchase and retool existing, but out of use automotive plants across the nation.
The people over at AFS want a piece of the money and were on hand to show off their 150 mpg converted Saturn Vue. Their Saturn Vue is a plug-in hybrid with a 16kWh lithium battery pack and ultra capacitors on board. The vehicle showcases plug- in technology at the extreme.
AFS is applying for the loans in several stages. They want $40 million to start which would help them produce 100 cars. Then $200 million to make 1,000 more cars. Finally, $1.3 billion to buy and retool an out of use GM plant and produce 100,000 or more cars.
AFS believes that they could sell their advance plug-in version for only $8,000 more than they standard car that they are based upon.
We will find out later this summer if AFS is approved for funding.
Source: New York Times
