“We’re trying to protect the taxpayer,” says an adviser to Energy Secretary Chu.
The New York Times reports:
More than $16 billion in loans authorized five years ago by Congress to develop fuel-efficient vehicles has yet to be disbursed, with applicants for the money complaining that the Energy Department is crippling plans for greener cars and trucks at a time of rising gas prices.
Some companies contend that the loans, administered by energy officials, have dried up because of a political firestorm that followed the bankruptcy last year of the solar panel company Solyndra, which had received a federal loan from a related program. The bankruptcy fed Republican criticism of the Obama administration’s handling of clean energy loans because one of the investors in Solyndra was a major fund-raiser for the president.
“Since Solyndra became politicized last fall, the Department of Energy has failed to make any other loans,” said William Santana Li, chief executive of Carbon Motors, which on Wednesday dropped its $310 million application to build police cars with diesel engines that use 40 percent less fuel than current models…
I believe this shows one of the reasons why the stimulus didn’t work. In order to stimulate the economy, grants/loans need to be made quickly to projects that are ready to go – not 5 years later.
Second, the projects mentioned in the article are not all that viable. Police, delivery vans and other specialty vehicles tend to be variants of vehicle platform. Basically, the large volume “regular” vehicle sales/investment absorbs the costs associated with these low volume specialty vehicles.
Two more cents: That bright source delivery vehicle looks ugly, doesn’t have a lot of ground clearance (important in areas that have snow, potholes and dirt roads) and I assume is not cheap. Delivery vans tend to get beat up. Low investment and maintenance costs are key sales points.