this 1.7million is an interest free loan, so taxpayers are only covering the lost potential of that money being used elsewhere, unless something happens whichs exempts them paying back.

If it's a 0% loan, then taxpayers lose the value of inflation - over the past few years that has been relatively high. And there's whatever administrative overhead is involved in selecting and administering the loan. And the cost of the photo op. Relative to the value of the loan, the overhead seems high.

The article makes the argument that this is where investors should step in. For an established factory, that seems reasonable.

IMO the EV plants are a different story, since the plant isn't established, and the PBO expects (some of them) to break even within 13 years.