If you're considering a 2015 Nissan Leaf electric car, now might be a good time to make your move. Sales have stayed essentially flat for the past few months, and more cars are starting to come off leases. Amid those market currents, Nissan is boosting incentives on the five-door hatchback. DON'T MISS: Best Deals On Hybrid, Electric, Diesel Cars. car buying plug-in cars deals lease price MORE

Cool Planet Energy Systems, a renewable fuels and biochar company ( earlier post ), closed on its targeted $100 million Series D financing. MORE

We get our first chance to ride in Audi's new electric e-tron SUV. Chinese electric carmaker NIO plans to start its expansion in the U.S. by raising money. We look at why fuel-economy standards don't need be loosened to keep cars safer, and we ask followers for their back-to-school thoughts in our latest Twitter poll. All this and more on Green MORE

The Park City region deployment not only marks the first battery-electric transit fleet for Utah and the nationwide mountain resort industry, it also represents the first implementation of Proterra’s battery-lease financing model—i.e., Park City Transit received financing for the six Proterra buses through an extremely competitive Low-No Emissions Grant with the US Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration (FTA). MORE

SGB), a bioenergy crop company developing elite hybrid seeds of Jatropha as a low-cost feedstock for biodiesel, biojet fuel and specialty chemicals, has completed a $17-million Series B financing led by Thomas, McNerney & Partners with participation from Finistere Ventures and current investors Flint Hills Resources, LLC and Life Technologies Corporation. SG Biofuels, Inc. MORE

Westinghouse has obtained $800 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing from a third-party lender to help fund and protect its core businesses during its reorganization. The DIP financing will fund Westinghouse’s core businesses of supporting operating plants, nuclear fuel and components manufacturing and engineering as well as decommissioning, decontamination, remediation and waste management as the company works to reorganize around these strong business units. MORE

In addition to new investors BlackRock and Sinobioway, existing investors also participated in this financing. This new and significant financing will help accelerate our growth and further expand project development and implementation. Canada-based Enerkem Inc., MORE

Project Volt Gas Volt is based on a long-term financing plan and the use of existing technologies for the large-scale conversion of surplus renewable electricity to methane, with subsequent reuse. Financing Project VGV: the Green Redemption Fund. MORE

France-based Global Bioenergies, the developer of a one-step fermentation processes for the direct and cost-efficient transformation of renewable resources into light olefins, has obtained new €1.4-million (US$1.6-million) financing from Bpifrance on the isobutene program. This financing, which allows Global Bioenergies to strengthen its leadership in the field of fermentative isobutene, is structured in the form of a €1.4-million interest-free loan over seven years. MORE

I received the following in an email from Zero Motorcycles: "We are excited to announce that consumer financing is now available for all of our motorcycles. This means that you can purchase a Zero S or DS for as low as $290 a month after your deposit or one of our off-road motorcycles for even less. Unlike a typical loan, you can also MORE

The offering constituted the second tranche of the bridge financing previously announced on 8 April 2014. Ultracapacitor company Nesscap Energy Inc. has completed a non-brokered private placement of a US $1,000,000 Convertible Note with I2BF Energy. The proceeds will be used for working capital. The Note has a maturity date of 1 April 2015; the conversion price is CAD 0.10 per common share; the interest rate is 10% per year. MORE

UQM Technologies, a developer of and manufacturer of power-dense, high-efficiency electric motors, generators and power electronic controllers for the automotive, commercial truck, bus and military markets, completed a $5.3-million capital raise through institutional investors. A major emphasis for UQM is developing propulsion systems for electric, hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric and fuel cell electric vehicles. MORE

million in Series E financing through the sale of new shares and the conversion of previously issued promissory notes. The financing will be used to further grow customer adoption in key commercial markets, expand internationally and develop and commercialize new products. Stationary fuel cell manufacturer ClearEdge Power has raised $73.5 MORE

Four out of five private new cars are purchased using some form of point-of-sale finance, according to the the latest stats from the Finance and Leasi. MORE

The Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) has published its latest report which shows that point of sale (POS) consumer new car finance grew 13% by va. MORE

Pinnacle Engines also announced closure of its Series C financing, bringing total investment in the company to more than $30 million. Prior to Hyundai, BVR was with Tata Administrative Services and headed marketing at Tata Motors with overall responsibility for formulating and implementing strategies in marketing, sales, service and financing for both commercial vehicles and passenger cars. MORE

Mitsubishi has confirmed finance offers for its newly available electric car model, the i-MiEV, as Government grants for electric cars come available to UK buyers. Mitsubishi Contract Hire electric car ev finance residualThe Japanese car maker, one of the first to retail a fully electric car in the UK, is offering the new electric car for £399 per month on 48 month [.]. MORE

a developer of technologies enabling the conversion of existing fleet vehicles into plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, completed a $3-million financing with United Fleet Financing, LLC, through a private placement offering and mezzanine financing. Additionally, United Fleet and Echo consummated a financing and security agreement in which United Fleet agreed to provide an additional $1,500,000 of working capital for Echo through mezzanine financing. MORE

a bioenergy crop company developing and producing elite seeds of Jatropha, has completed a $9.4-million Series A financing with proceeds from Flint Hills Resources, a privately held company based in Kansas, Life Technologies Corporation, a biotechnology tools company based in Carlsbad, Calif., The financing will support the company's efforts to advance Jatropha as a high-yielding, low cost feedstock for diesel, jet fuel and petrochemicals. SG Biofuels, Inc., MORE

Global Bioenergies, a startup developing and commercializing a fermentation process that targets gaseous isobutene, has obtained a €4.4-million (US$4.7-million) loan from a consortium of four French banks—BNP Paribas, Société Genéralé, CIC and Bpifrance—to complete the financing of its demo plant. This new financing will cover the purchase of a complete fermentation unit, comprising an inoculation fermenter, a propagation fermenter, and a 5,000L production fermenter. MORE

Car leasing companies Car finance Opinion BVRLA LeasingIt’s no secret that the Personal Contract Hire (PCH) sector continues to grow at an exceptional rate, and leading lights in the rental and leasing ind. MORE

Algal fuels producer Algenol has closed on a $25-million dollar investment from BioFields, a Mexican business group devoted to the development of renewable and clean energy projects. This new investment follows a previous investment of $40 million from BioFields in 2014. Founded in 2006, Algenol converts CO 2 from industrial emitters into transportation fuels through its Direct-To-Ethanol process. MORE

Skeleton Technologies, a manufacturer of high power- and energy-density ultracapacitors ( earlier post ) has completed Round A financing of €3.9 The financing will be used for production scale-up and product development in addition to sales and marketing efforts. The total Round A financing, led by Estonian venture capital investor UP Invest AS includes the first financing tranche of €2.2 MORE

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) ( DE-FOA-0001055 ) for light-duty fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) fueling infrastructure financing strategies within the context of an early market introduction. This input will augment financing strategies that DOE analyzes for public deployment of infrastructure for supporting FCEV introduction in US markets. MORE

a developer and manufacturer of Aqueous Hybrid Ion (AHI) batteries and stationary energy storage systems, recently completed the closing of a $55-million Series D financing round. Aquion Energy, Inc., MORE

In a deal brokered by the city’s newly commissioned Citizens Environmental Task Force, Exxon/Mobil, owners of the Exxon/Mobil Refinery in the City of Torrance agreed today to fund a bond that will make low cost financing of solar energy systems for home and apartment owners. MORE

the developer of a charger with an integral continuously variable transmission (CVT) ( earlier post ), has raised $8 million in Series C equity financing round. Proceeds from the financing will help drive the company’s growth initiatives and speed up the commercialization of the SuperTurbo technology. VanDyne SuperTurbo Inc., MORE

As if to confirm one of the biggest concerns of electric-car doubters, lithium prices have tripled since 2015. Not to worry, say those who sell electric cars, the world has no shortage of raw lithium; new businesses just need to jump into the opportunity to open new mines to extract more of the material. Things are not always as simple as they. lithium MORE

In addition to the $42-million internal equity round, an additional $34 million in funding was raised predominantly in debt financing from Tennenbaum Capital Partners (TCP), along with equity and debt investment rolled over by existing members of Central MN Ethanol Co-op LLC (CMEC) in Central MN Renewables LLC (CMR), a US affiliate of GBL. Green Biologics (GBL) closed an internal follow-on equity round of $42 million co-led by Swire Pacific Limited and Sofinnova Partners. MORE

Start-up Liquid Light, a developer of process technology to make major chemicals from low-cost, globally-abundant carbon dioxide ( earlier post ), has closed a $15-million Series B financing. The financing was completed at a significant increase in company valuation. The new financing will be used to complete process development at pilot scale, providing the information needed for further scale up to a tons-per-day plant. MORE

Battery-eletcric bus manufacturer Proterra has completed a $55M strategic financing. In conjunction with the equity financing, Proterra completed a debt financing in an amount up to $25 million with Hercules Technology Growth Capital. In addition, the Hercules debt facility expands Proterra’s access to working capital, a critical component of growth financing as production volume increases. MORE

Better Place, a developer and provider of electric car networks—including battery switch stations, batteries and public/personal charge spots ( earlier post )—worldwide, has secured $200 million through a Series C equity financing from a consortium of top-tier investors and partners, nearly doubling the company’s valuation to $2.25 billion (post money valuation on a fully diluted basis) since the last financing in January 2010. MORE

million of financing in its Series D round. Braemar Energy Ventures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led the financing and were joined by Toyota Tsusho Corporation and existing investor Rho Ventures. The financing will enable Coulomb to expand its operations and further grow the ChargePoint Network and expand the deployment of its cloud-based charging solutions for electric vehicles. MORE

Waste gases-to-fuels and -chemicals technology company LanzaTech has closed on $15 million in debt financing from Western Technology Investment (WTI), a private investment firm based in Silicon Valley. Earlier this year, LanzaTech closed a $55.8-million Series C funding round led by Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund, bringing the total capital raised to date to more than $100 million. MORE

Changes in how transport is financed are essential if cities and nations are to deal effectively with the rapid growth in motor vehicle traffic and related environmental and health problems, including climate change, according to a new report by the Transport Research Laboratory released at Fifth Regional EST Forum in Asia by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and the Partnership for Sustainable Low Carbon Transport. MORE

Tech CU (Technology Credit Union) is working with Tesla Motors as a preferred financing partner for their Model S, Model X and Roadster electric vehicles, offering up to 100% financing with a competitive annual percentage rate (APR). Tesla is also a Tech CU Member Company; Tech CU provides Tesla employees with resources that include personal and business banking, commercial lending and comprehensive wealth management services that include investing and financial planning. MORE

Green Car Congress attended the Renewable Energy Finance Forum - Wall Street (REFF-Wall Street) conference (23-24 June) sponsored by Euromoney Energy Events and the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). Renewables account for approximately 10-15% of the global energy infrastructure investment and according to New Energy Finance renewables have been hit hard by the global recession with a 47% in Q1 2009 vs. Q1 2008 ($13.3 by Bill Cooke. MORE

Who grinned--and who grimaced--while looking over the Chevy Bolt EV 200-mile electric car? And, why did Tesla Motors sue a German supplier that worked on the development of its Model X? This is our look back at the Week In Reverse--right here at Green Car Reports--for the week ending on Friday, January 22, 2016. Friday, we noted that the future of. The Week In Reverse MORE

Agrisoma Biosciences, an agricultural company that has commercialized carinata, a non-food oilseed crop designed for sustainable production of biofuels, has closed a $15.4-million Series B financing round, co-led by new investor Groupe Lune Rouge and current investors Cycle Capital Management, and BDC Venture Capital. MORE

Comet Biorefining, an industry leader in the production of high-purity cellulosic dextrose, has completed a round of equity financing led by new investor PM Equity Partner. Current investor Sofinnova Partners and new investor Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) also participated in the financing. Terms of the financing were not disclosed. MORE

The Hydrogen Education Foundation announced the 11 th annual Hydrogen Student Design Contest, which will challenge student teams to develop business and financing models for hydrogen fueling stations. Through the Contest, multidisciplinary student teams will demonstrate their talents in business, finance, engineering, public planning, architecture, marketing, and entrepreneurship. MORE

a leading renewable technology, chemical products, and next generation biofuels company, has closed a private debt financing with Whitebox Advisors LLC consisting of a senior secured term loan exchangeable into senior secured convertible debentures. The term loan is exchangeable into convertible debentures within 90 days of the closing of the financing, subject to certain ownership limitations. million in convertible debentures within 90 days of closing of the Financing. MORE

GE Capital’s Commercial Distribution Finance (CDF) business has agreed to provide Brammo Inc. with inventory financing to support the expansion of its dealer network in the US. CDF already provides inventory financing for other brands of alternative fuel and hybrid motorsports products. This type of arrangement, also known as floorplan financing, allows dealers to stock, market and sell a wide variety of motorcycles and related products from manufacturers. MORE