During the first Presidential debate last year, the one where Mitt Romney was supposedly so brilliant, he asserted that half of the clean-tech companies President Obama had invested stimulus money in had gone belly up. Not even close. Tesla Motors was one of the businesses he was talking about. They’ve just announced they’re expediting their loan-repayment schedule. From Alan Ohnsman at Bloomberg:

“Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA), which received $465 million in U.S. Energy Department loans to develop and build electric cars, will repay the funds five years ahead of schedule in a plan approved by the government.

The carmaker said in its annual report yesterday that the department approved amended terms of the loan agreements that enable it to complete repayment by December 2017. Starting in 2015, the Palo Alto, California-based company will make accelerated payments from excess free cash flow, Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja said in a telephone interview.

‘Any remaining balance that’s there at the end of 2017 we’ll pay off as a balloon payment,’ Ahuja said yesterday.

The maker of battery-powered Model S sedans, led by billionaire Elon Musk, has a goal of becoming profitable this quarter, with deliveries of the vehicle forecast to rise to a record 20,000 units in 2013. Production snags in last year’s second half boosted operating expenses and triggered a wider fourth-quarter loss for Tesla than analysts anticipated.

The original terms required repayment of the loans by 2022, 10 years after the funds were drawn down. Tesla said on Sept. 25 that it was working with the Energy Department on a modified repayment schedule. Amended terms of the loan agreements were registered on Dec. 20 and March 1, the company said yesterday.”