No, my understanding is that most investments are in the form of (1) grants, e.g. by the National Institutes of Health, to public or private entities that can p

No, my understanding is that most investments are in the form of (1) grants, e.g. by the National Institutes of Health, to public or private entities that can perform research toward a particular published goal, and (2) loans, e.g. by the Department of Energy (DoE), also to either public or private entities toward a particular goal. For example, in 2009, the U.S. DoE loaned Tesla USD465 million as part of the $8 billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. About the 'largest donors' part, I think that bit's quite overblown by the conservative media. For example, though I'm not sure if Tesla had any Obama connection, it was held up as an constant example of wasteful spending through the 2012 election and until it had its first profitable quarter this year and paid back its loans early.