Ecotality

Taxpayers' $1.4B 'Investment' in Nissan EV May Make Volt Look Good by Comparison

Submitted by Paul Chesser on Fri, 04/06/2012 - 14:00

Ghosn photo While General Motors’ Chevy Volt assembly workers are sidelined for five weeks (and more this summer) because demand for its strongly hyped electric car is weak, the prospects for its chief rival – Nissan’s Leaf – are shaky at best.

Taxpayers' Leaf: Four Recharging Stops Needed to Go 180 Miles

Submitted by Paul Chesser on Tue, 01/03/2012 - 07:38

Nissan Leaf photo Consumer Reports has painted an ugly picture of the Nissan Leaf, as did an early enthusiast based in Los Angeles, who described his frustrations with the heavily subsidized, all-electric car in a recent column.

Now comes what must be the definitive example of the Leaf’s impracticality – this time from a (still) hard-core advocate, whose 180-mile Tennessee trek to visit family over the holidays required four lengthy stops to keep the vehicle moving.

Taxpayer-Funded Green Job Losses Easy as A123

Submitted by Paul Chesser on Fri, 12/02/2011 - 09:40

It’s another day, and another round of layoffs by a recipient of millions of dollars under the Obama Administration’s renewable energy initiatives, administered by the mismanaged Department of Energy.

This time the Recovery Act largesse – taken out of the hide of taxpayers – went to A123 Systems, Inc. The Massachusetts-based energy storage company was given $249.1 million to help launch two battery-manufacturing plants in Michigan. A123 also received grants and tax credits from the state that could total more than $135 million. In a separate federal grant as a subcontractor for another grantee, A123 received nearly $30 million for a wind energy storage project.

Taxpayers Fund Impractical Cracker Barrel EV Recharging Scheme

Submitted by Paul Chesser on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 12:37

CrackerBarrel If you were going to run a pilot project that deploys charging stations in a network to enhance the use of electric vehicles, what kind of establishments would you locate them at? Whose customers might be most interested in that amenity?

Certainly Starbucks comes to mind, as might sustainability-crazy Walmart – but how about Cracker Barrel?

DOE Bet on EV Charging Technology Puts Taxpayers in Reverse

Submitted by Paul Chesser on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 09:25

Volt recharging photo On Friday NLPC reported that the Department of Energy may have made a bad bet on Ecotality, the car-charging company that is heavily dependent on $115 million in government grants to deploy stations for electric vehicles through its EV Project. It turns out that DOE may not only be gambling taxpayer funds on a shaky company, but may also have dumped a bunch of money into a technology with a questionable future.

Is EV Recharging Company Ecotality Another Bad Obama 'Bet'?

Submitted by Paul Chesser on Fri, 10/14/2011 - 09:11

eTec logo In the aftermath of the Solyndra scandal, in which $535 million guaranteed by taxpayers for the solar company’s loan has been lost, President Obama told ABC News his people “felt that it was a good bet.”

GM and GE Go All-In for Chinese Subsidies

Submitted by Paul Chesser on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 11:00

immelt photo Professional subsidy-sucking General Motors, which seems content to marinate in its taxpayer "investment" indefinitely, is getting ambitious. No, not in the sense of paying back the $50 billion U.S. government bailout, or in producing vehicles people actually want to buy, but instead in finding other governments to subsidize its products.

Not surprisingly the new partner - in a 50-50 joint venture with the state-run auto industry - is China. And also unsurprisingly, General Electric will join GM in a related partnership in the communist nation.

Walmart ‘Sustainability’ Reaches New Heights of Absurdity

Submitted by Paul Chesser on Mon, 07/25/2011 - 12:59

Mike Duke photo Back in April some on the Internet tried (and failed) to argue that Walmart had abandoned political correctness – especially with regard to environmental causes – because the company had suffered seven (now eight) straight quarters of same store sales declines. NLPC showed that if anything, Walmart was more committed to “sustainability” than ever.

Those priorities, under CEO Mike Duke (in photo), may have reached absurd new heights last week as the world’s largest retailer announced a partnership with utility giant American Electric Power to give away electricity. That’s right – free electricity! But as you might imagine, there’s a catch.