The story
Carbon Motors Corporation was founded in Los Angeles, California, by Stacy Dean Stephens and William Santana Li (a former police officer and former Ford executive, respectively) in 2003. Carbon Motors Corporation moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 2006, where it continued to develop its product and gain investors. In July 2009, the company relocated their headquarters to Connersville, Indiana, with plans to invest $350 million into converting a former Visteon plant there.
On March 22, 2010, Carbon Motors signed a contract with BMW for the delivery of 240,000 six-cylinder diesel engines.
On March 7, 2012, media reported that the United States Department of Energy (DOE) had denied a loan request of $310 million applied for under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program with Energy Secretary Steven Chu stating that while the DOE would have liked to approve the loan, there was "a responsibility to the taxpayers and they need to make sure it’s written in the statute that there's a reasonable chance of repayment." Carbon Motors officials had worked with the DOE over the prior two years to address concerns about Carbon Motors' plans. Carbon Motors criticized the DOE's reasons for refusing the loan as politically motivated and related to the 2012 elections. Another Indiana startup, Bright Automotive, was forced to end operations the week before after applying for the same loan in 2008 and being unable to continue waiting for the DOE to act on the application. On March 13, 2012, Secretary Chu testified before a Senate hearing partly related to claims made by Carbon Motors CEO William Santana Li regarding the politicization of loans granted by the DOE stating "Politics is not a factor, period. It has to do with the finances of the company, the viability of the loan."
In early March 2013, Carbon Motors began to remove equipment and vacate the plant in Connersville. The lease on the plant was allowed to expire on March 31, 2013. The company's website and YouTube channel were taken down around the same time. By April 2013, the company effectively shut down.
On May 22, 2013, three former Carbon Motors executives filed a lawsuit against the company for unpaid, deferred wages.
From Wikipedia’s article on Carbon Motors Corporation, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3