Tesla Motors is discovering that it cannot build cars on hopes and dreams alone; real capital is required, too. The forward-thinking company is stating that they will not be able to produce their 4-door, Model S electric car without a $350 million dollar US government loan. Remember, the founder stated a while ago that all the pre-orders for the Roadster will be fulfilled, but without this new loan, the company will have to wait until the credit markets unfreeze to build the Model S’s manufacturing facility. It’s too bad that the credit crisis hit when vehicle technology almost reached a new stage in their evolution.

Tesla Motors has been hit hard with credit crunch of late, but the billionaire founder of Telsa and PayPal has personally guaranteed that all of the 1,200 battery-powered Tesla Roadster pre-orders will be filled.  So far, only 60 of the 1,200 cars have been delivered and the company seems to be consolidating after shutting down and laying off 90% of the Detroit, MI office. However, with this latest round of financing of $20 million and $200 million from a U.S. Department of Energy loan, the company hopes to be continue operations. Hopefully, operations will continue enough to not only build all the Roadster pre-orders but also the sexy BMW 5 series, sports-sedan Model S. recently announced. (Pictured above)