“In yet another ‘Solyndra,’ a car battery maker that got $118 million in stimulus funds has declared bankruptcy. Once again, when this administration picks corporate winners, the taxpayers become losers.”
Investor’s Business Daily editorializes,
A year ago, Vice President Joe Biden toured the Ener1 Inc. battery factory in Greenfield, Ind., and viewed a “THINK City” electric car that uses Ener1 batteries.
Ener1’s employees “will surely benefit from the three-part plan that Vice President Biden announced today,” the White House promised. That plan includes rebates, research and development and the promotion of public charging stations, and seeks by 2015 to put on the road roughly 1 million “advanced technology vehicles” — a cooler-sounding name for the electric geekmobiles no one wants to drive.
The White House boasted that the facility Biden visited “would not exist if not for a $118.5 million grant from the Department of Energy … part of a $2.4 billion Recovery Act investment in electric vehicles.”
The Obama administration a year ago said “the future looks bright” for Ener1 and promised that the firm would employ 1,400 workers by next year.
It didn’t work out that way. On Thursday, Ener1 filed for bankruptcy. The Norwegian maker of the “THINK” car declared bankruptcy in June 2010…
Another one bites the dust.