BUSINESS BRIEF
Energy Department loses $139M on loan
11/23/2013WASHINGTON — The Energy Department says it will lose $139 million on a loan to struggling electric car maker Fisker Automotive Inc.
The government sold the loan for $25 million Friday to Hybrid Technology LLC, a holding company that plans to keep the California carmaker operating.
The $139 million loss is the largest in the Obama Administration’s green-energy loan program since the 2011 failure of solar panel maker Solyndra. The government lost $528 million in the Solyndra collapse.
The Energy Department awarded Fisker a half-billion loan guarantee in 2009, but suspended it in 2011, after Fisker failed to meet benchmarks. Fisker had received $192 million before the loan was frozen.