Coulomb’s Department of Energy-funded ChargePoint America project is bringing 150 electric car charging stations to the Boston metro area. The ChargePoint stations are part of a $37 million project, which Coulomb Technologies has already established in other regions around the US. Boston’s stations will primarily be installed along Route 495. CNET reports that this expansion coincides with a partnership between BMW and Coulomb Technologies.

A123 Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:AONE), a developer and producer or advanced Nanophosphate lithium ion batteries has announced today that they have opened the largest lithium ion automotive battery production facility in North America. The new plant is located in Livonia, Michigan and they are expecting to expand manufacturing capabilities by up to 600MW hours per day.

Fisker Automotive has closed a $529 million loan from the U.S. Energy Department for building electric vehicles. Fisker will be building plug-in hybrid vehicles in a Wilmington, Delaware plant that was recently closed by General Motors. Development of the Karma sports sedan will create about 2,000 new jobs. Fisker expects to hit full production by about 2015. [Reuters]

Silicon solar cell company Suniva has just received a $141 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy.  Suniva joins the likes of other solar companies such as Solyndra and Brightsource Energy, who received $535 million and $1.37 billion respectively.  Suniva will use the loan to build a solar cell manufacturing facility in Michigan according to VentureBeat.  The Michigan plant could employ about 500 full-time positions and 2,000 temporary jobs.  Suniva’s goal is to develop solar cells that require less pricey silicon.  Suniva raised a total of $375 million in venture capital from Warburg Pincus, HIG Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Advanced Equities, and Apex Ventures.. [VentureBeat]

American automotive company V-Vehicle was denied a $321 million loan from the Department of Energy.  V-Vehicle was founded by former Oracle vice president Frank Varasano.  V-Vehicle raised venture capital from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and T. Boone Pickens.  V-Vehicle is based in Monroe, Louisiana.  The company raised $87.5 million through private fundraising and was promised $67 million from the state of Louisiana.

The Department of Energy denied V-Vehicle $321 million as part of the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program set up by Congress.  Car and Driver speculates that the reason why V-Vehicle may have been denied the loan because they are not involved with the UAW.  The UAW has a strong lobby group in Washington.  V-Vehicle has about 1,400 employees. [Car and Driver]

Fisker Automotive Inc. is a U.S. based start-up company that is going to sell hybrid vehicles. The company recently secured a $528.7 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy. The funds will be used to fund production of their low emission cars.

“Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles could revolutionize personal transportation and cut our dependence on foreign oil, not to mention give us cleaner air and less carbon pollution,” stated Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Tesla Motors recently received $465 million in Energy Department loans this past June.

Fisker Automotive will use $169.3 million to finish the development and production of the Karma, a $87,900 plug-in hybrid sedan. The rest of the funds will be used to build the next-generation vehicle called Project Nina.

By 2012, Fisker plans to sell 75,000-100,000 cars per year. Fisker has an engineering office in Pontiac, Michigan. “This conditional loan represents a significant step in America’s future,” stated Fisker CEO Henrik Fisker, “help restore the U.S. as an auto industry leader.”

When the government invests in a company, you know that company is on to something big.  Solar Roadways received a $100,000 grant to develop “the first ever Solar Road panel.”  What this means is that road panels embedded on highways will be able to create electricity that can be reused.  The Solar Road panel will also be able to warn drivers about highway conditions such as an accident or construction.  Each panel would cost about $7,000 initially.  I’m surprised that the DoE only invested $100,000 considering how ambitious this project is.  But perhaps that should be enough to create some impressive prototypes to wow them for more money.

BrightSource Energy is a major developer of solar thermal plants. Bechtel Corporation will be helping build the $3 billion Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating System in California. Ivanpah will have 3 solar plants that will produce 440 megawatts which is enough power to give 330,000 homes electricity. Bechtel will receive equity in the project. Ivanpah will need to fulfill contracts that amount to 2.6 gigawatts worth of energy.

Power generated by Ivanpah will be sold to Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison. Ivanpah will use flat mirrors at the top of their “power towers” and water to convert steam to make turbines rotate. BrightSource is also expected to receive a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Ivanpah solar plants will be built in the Mojave Desert around the Nevada and California. Two of the plants alone will take up about 850 square miles. The third larger plant will take up abou 1,600 acres.