The Energy Department gave Nissan a $1.4 billion loan to overhaul a manufacturing facility in Tennessee to produce advanced electric vehicles and advanced batteries.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that nine projects aimed at improving vehicle fuel efficiency will receive a total of $187 million, mostly from the stimulus package. The projects are detailed in a DOE press release.

General Motors plans to repay the almost $7 billion in loans from the government by June, Chairman Edward E. Whitacre Jr. said.

Whitacre, who took over as CEO in early December after Fritz Henderson resigned, is "pushing GM toward faster profitability and improved sales and… has made repaying federal loans a priority over becoming a public company again," the Wall Street Journal reports.

In a memo to Obama, Vice President Joe Biden hailed the administration's efforts to help automakers adapt to clean energy technology.

"The federal government, partnering with the industry, has already committed to invest up to $16 billion in projects that will transform the transportation sector, including plug-in hybrid vehicles, all-electric vehicles and the infrastructure needed to power them, as well as clean fuel," Biden wrote.

New electric vehicle and battery plants are slated to be built within the next several years that will help with this transformation, he added.

On Sunday, a federal judge approved General Motors plans to sell 60 percent of its assets to a government-backed company. The New York Times reports that the ruling “marks yet another victory for the Obama administration, which has sought an enormous restructuring of the American auto industry in an extraordinarily short time span.”

Obama announced today that the government will take majority ownership of the ailing General Motors, pushing the Detroit auto company into bankruptcy. The government will invest $30 billion in the company -- on top of the $20 billion that has already been injected -- for a 60 percent stake in the company. In his remarks, the president aimed to quell Americans’ concerns about the federal assistance.

"GM can't put this plan into effect on its own. Executing this plan will require a substantial amount of money that only a government can provide,” Obama said. He went on to say more broadly that the financial crisis has “put our government in the unwelcome position of owning large stakes in private companies for the simple and compelling reason that their survival and the success of our overall economy depend on it.”

On Sunday night, a judge approved the government-backed plan for Chrysler to form an alliance -- backed partially by the government -- with the Italian auto company Fiat. In remarks today, the president hailed the “quick, efficient and fair bankruptcy process” Chrysler went through. “What the completion of this alliance means is that tens of thousands of jobs that would have been lost if Chrysler had liquidated will now be saved,” Obama said.

The president also aimed to rebuke critics who said a quick bankruptcy wouldn’t be possible. “They were wrong,” Obama said. “In fact, Chrysler sold more cars in May than it did in April, in part because consumers were comforted by our extraordinary commitment to stand behind a quick bankruptcy process."

"Obama forced Chrysler into federal bankruptcy protection" today "so it could pursue a lifesaving alliance with the Italian automaker Fiat, in yet another extraordinary intervention into private industry by the federal government," the New York Times reports. The administration will loan up to $6 billion to the Chrysler-Fiat Alliance in order to help with the restructuring process, according to a White House fact sheet.

In remarks today, the president commended Chrysler for coming to an agreement with Fiat and outlined how the government will be involved. "It's a partnership that the federal government will support by making additional loans," Obama said. "As part of their agreement, every dime of new taxpayer money will be repaid before Fiat can take a majority ownership stake in Chrysler."

The draft energy bill proposed by Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Ed Markey, D-Mass. calls for public or private charging stations to help power electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The bill suggests "public or private locations, including street parking, parking garages, parking lots, homes, gas stations, and highway rest stops." Such provisions may also include battery exchanges and other measures.

The U.S. Treasury’s auto task force has committed to meet its March 31 deadline of assessing General Motors' and Chrysler's request for $21.6 billion in aid on top of $17.4 billion already received. "We are open minded about committing additional resources to ensuring a viable domestic car industry," said Steven Rattner, chief adviser to the task force. "Bankruptcy is not our goal nor a desirable outcome." However he added that the government won't "simply hand out dollar bills on Pennsylvania Avenue," either.

The final version of the stimulus bill includes $2 billion in grants to help support domestic manufacturing of "advanced vehicle batteries and components." The House's loan guarantee provision, which would have accomplished the same thing through loans instead of grants, was dropped.

President Obama's stimulus package will earmark $2 billion for the "Advanced Battery Loan Guarantee and Grants Program, to support U.S. manufacturers of advanced vehicle batteries and battery systems."