Posted on 06/02/2012 6:13:25 PM PDT by kristinn
The Obama administration invested $2.4 billion as part of its goal of putting one million electric vehicles on the road by the end of 2015. But that effort has, in part, stalled.
Nothing is more emblematic of the industry's troubles than the Fisker Karma. In 2010, Fisker got a $529-million taxpayer loan to build a luxury electric sports car.
But the government cut off the loan to Fisker after $193 million when Fisker failed to meet its ambitious sales and production goals. Then, a Consumer Reports test dealt the Karma another blow.
"It is low. It is sleek. It is sensuous," the Consumer Reports' video narrator says.
"It's also broken," the narrator adds as a clip of the Fisker Karma being towed on a flatbed airs.
Fisker blamed the car's lithium ion battery, which happened to be made by another government loan recipient, A123 Systems.
A123 got a $249-million taxpayer loan. This year's first-quarter losses totaled $125 million.
The industry's misfortunes have seriously undermined President Obama's goal.
"We can replace our dependence on oil with biofuels and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015," Obama said in January 2011.
To get to one million, the White House pinned its hopes on 11 models of electric vehicles -- including the Karma. Our CBS News investigation found that six of the 11 -- Ford Focus, Ford Transit Connect, Fisker Nina/Atlantic, Tesla Model S, Tesla Roadster and Think City -- either haven't made their first delivery or are already out of business.
Others aren't even close to the government's 2015 projections. For example, 36,000 Fisker Karmas and 505,000 Chevy Volts were supposed to be made. But current projections slash the Karma's 2015 number in half to 18,000 and put the Volt at one-eighth of the...
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Build a car that works, is practical, and that people want and it won’t matter how they are fueled.
OTOH, if the Supremes decide that FedGov can indeed mandate that we purchase a specific thing, then the electric car problem will be solved. We’ll have to buy one, or two.
Valerie Jarrett believe every word from Van Jones’s commie mouth, so it is no surprise that little barry puppet commie does what she commands and fails.
Oh, well. A billion here, and billion there, and pretty soon you tow them away on flatbeds and blame Republican obstructionists in congress.
Everything that Zero touches turns to ashes. The pattern should be obvious to any fool. He is going to have loooooooong coattails. November is going to be a Democrat bloodbath.
unexpectently.
It seems that the administration has fallen much shorter of our goals.
Bad Karma?
Bad Karma?
And our former socialist tramp governor Fuhrer Moleface Granholm really was in bed with A123. Union slobbing and all that.
She was run out of Michigan.
Rich people can afford foolish dreams, but, when you have to share the wealth with a bunch of slackers, you can’t afford sh!t. ZerO is a victim of his own folly.
Right, Sharyl. Nothing to do with the fact the dogs really don't like the dog food they are being served.
Have they restarted production of the Volt???
It’s been very quiet if they have.
Pretty good. I subscribed as well.
I had a used karma.
It belonged to a little old lady school teacher who was only responsible for her actions on weekends.
"It is low. It is sleek. It is sensuous," the Consumer Reports' video narrator says.
The base price is also $102,000. Wonder why sales haven't skyrocketed?
Also the not so sexy Chevy Volt starts at $40,000 and to drive one off the lot is probably $45,000, but who's counting other than Obama and Government Motors?
It looked to me like she couldn't get out fast enough.
Making a beeline for the hallowed halls of Berkeley.
Teaching America's one percenter 20-somethings to become blood sucking environmental lawyers.
Karma’s a bitch.
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