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Ener1 = The Next Solyndra
More green energy shoots fertilized by billions
in taxpayer dollars are turning brown. Last fall, I dropped by the
Ener1 manufacturing facility where it makes EnerDel lithium-ion
battery packs just outside of Indianapolis to get a sense of how
the electric car industry was evolving. As I reported in my
article,
Revving Up Electric Cars with Government Cash, Ener1 was the
recipient of a $118 million federal grant, plus state and local
incentives worth $70 million. The good news for taxpayers is that
the company has received only $55 million from the Department of
Energy so far. At the time of my visit Ener1's stock was selling
for about $5 per share. Now it sells for 9 cents per share and has
been
delisted from NASDAQ. The Department of Energy says that it is
monitoring
the situation.
Addendum: Vice President Joe Biden visited the Ener1 plant in January of this year where he declared:
“It’s not the government doing this. It’s the free-enterprise system,” Biden said. “We’re providing seed money, one-time deposit, man, so we can spur additional investment.”
Brings to mind the old joke about a stockbroker who invests his client's money until it's all gone.
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Suki|11.3.11 @ 10:17AM|#
delisted from NASDAQ???
CAPITALIST PLOT!
Tim|11.3.11 @ 10:18AM|#
I would have thought making batteries for cars that nobody can afford would be a sure winner.
Suki|11.3.11 @ 10:31AM|#
The RightPeople™ can afford them and they get federal rebates too.
|11.3.11 @ 10:33AM|#
The right people still buy Suburbans with bulletproof glass. If they had funded those companies, taxpayers may have gotten some of their money back.
Suki|11.3.11 @ 10:53AM|#
Those are only for the government RightPeople™, the LeftRightPeople™. When Maobama took over GM, he made them stop making nice things for regular people.
*|11.3.11 @ 10:23AM|#
What's with all the wanker names these companies give themselves?
Tim|11.3.11 @ 10:24AM|#
Some internet asshole already trademarked the asterisk.
rather|11.3.11 @ 10:30AM|#
lol
|11.3.11 @ 10:32AM|#
Kurt Vonnegut should have trademarked it.
*|11.3.11 @ 10:34AM|#
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fICW9OMjeJE
Ghost|3.16.12 @ 1:59PM|#
I don't think Carrot Top runs a green hair company.
|11.3.11 @ 10:31AM|#
bad economy + marginal product company = failure!
Keynsians just can't believe that people don't spend money when they don't have any.
|11.3.11 @ 10:38AM|#
Wind and solar will never provide more than a small % of our energy needs.Both have major flaws .They are not reliable over the course of a day,you can not ramp up production and they take large amounts of land for little return.Never mind the resources needed to build them.It's like using the mule and plow to produce our crops.You'll feed the few and the rest will starve
Steven|11.3.11 @ 11:36AM|#
True, there is no need to ever use 'renewables', there is more oil and gas on earth than we could ever use. Based on the laws of economics, the more scarce they become, the more expensive they become so there will always be someone finding more.
|11.3.11 @ 12:10PM|#
Was this supposed to be a rebuttal of Michael's post? To say that certain renewables are losers is not to say we don't need renewables. It's just saying that wind and solar, at least with current technology, are not financially viable. Only an Al Gore-fellating tree hugger would disagree with that. That's why they are always calling for subsidies.
You might enjoy trying logic sometime.
cynical|11.3.11 @ 1:21PM|#
At some point they'll be scarce enough, and expensive enough, that people will find it worthwhile to use renewables instead without the government's help.
|11.3.11 @ 12:06PM|#
They should use those battery packs to turn flywheels hooked to generators which can then recharge the batteries...
Tym|11.3.11 @ 12:13PM|#
Hah hah, and you would have a perpetual motion machine, assuming we lived in a frictionless, entropy-less universe.
"Uncle Joe" Biden|11.3.11 @ 12:28PM|#
"Nobody has to mention that I am an insider stockholder and plan to bail after the hype and before the fall."
|11.3.11 @ 12:57PM|#
Ronald, I think Tim Cavanaugh would like a word with you about your headline. Ener1 the next Solyndra? Bah. As Tim said:
You two need to settle this some how.
db|11.3.11 @ 1:10PM|#
Thunderdome.
cynical|11.3.11 @ 1:20PM|#
My money's on Tim.
DK|11.3.11 @ 1:40PM|#
Joe Biden = Utter Tool
(I know I'm saying nothing new here, but anything worth saying can't be said enough.)
Nike Dunk High|12.9.11 @ 4:14AM|#
thanks