Gravitymaster 0 #1 October 21, 2011 QuoteWith the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work. Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department's $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the job of assembling the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car has been outsourced to Finland. "There was no contract manufacturer in the U.S. that could actually produce our vehicle," the car company's founder and namesake told ABC News. "They don't exist here." QuoteHenrik Fisker, the renowned auto designer who founded the car company that carries his name, said his company holds tremendous promise and has accumulated $600 million in private financing. When asked directly by ABC News if taxpayers should worry about the more than $500 million in federal funds on the line, he was emphatic: "No, I don't think they need to worry about it," Fisker said. When asked if Fisker might be the next Solyndra, he said, "Absolutely not." Oh, no...nothing to worry about at all. We have his word on that. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/car-company-us-loan-builds-cars-finland/story?id=14770875 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gravitymaster 0 #2 October 21, 2011 QuoteThe Fisker Karma electric car, developed mainly with your tax money so that a bunch of rich VC’s wouldn’t have to risk any real money, has rolled out with an nominal EPA MPGe of 52. Not bad? Unfortunately, it’s a sham. This figure is calculated using the grossly flawed EPA process that substantially underestimates the amount of fossil fuels required to power the electric car, as I showed in great depth in an earlier Forbes.com article. In short, the EPA methodology leaves out, among other things, the conversion efficiency in generating the electricity from fossil fuels in the first place. In the Clinton administration, the Department of Energy (DOE) created a far superior well to wheels MPGe metric the honestly compares the typical fossil fuel use of an electric vs. gasoline car. As I calculated in my earlier Forbes article, one needs to multiply the EPA MPGe by .365 to get a number that truly compares fossil fuel use of an electric car with a traditional gasoline engine car on an apples to apples basis. In the case of the Fisker Karma, we get a true MPGe of 19. This makes it worse than even the city rating of a Ford Explorer SUV. Congrats to the Fisker Karma, which now joins corn ethanol in the ranks of heavily subsidized supposedly green technologies that are actually worse for the environment than current solutions. Postscript: I will say, though, that the Fisker Karma does serve a social purpose — Hollywood celebrities and the ultra rich, who want to display their green credentials, no longer have to be stuck with a little econobox. They can now enjoy a little leg room and luxury. http://www.forbes.com/sites/warrenmeyer/2011/10/20/update-fisker-karma-electric-car-gets-worse-mileage-than-an-suv/ Oh, now I feel better knowing this is a worthwhile expenditure of our tax dollars. No problem, just raise taxes some more. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jgoose71 0 #3 October 21, 2011 And yet Tesla is doing it in the united states without federal money. Yes you get a $7,500 EV subsidy, but I don't know if it would really be necessary for them. They have managed to raise funds by offering some of the technology that they have developed to Toyota and other companies. This won't end good for Obama. Why is he subsidizing foreign jobs again? Fisker isn't a part of GE, is it? Once again showing at how inept our government is and that they should stay out of business all together and let the private sector do it's thing. "There is an art, it says, or, rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." Life, the Universe, and Everything Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #4 October 21, 2011 It's a LOAN .. were there strings attached, like you must keep the money in the US? if not SUICC and wait for the repayments and interest. (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gravitymaster 0 #5 October 21, 2011 QuoteIt's a LOAN .. were there strings attached, like you must keep the money in the US? if not SUICC and wait for the repayments and interest. A loan that reqires the money to be kept in the US while building cars in Finland? And the reason is that nowhere in the entire US is there a facility that can build them here? Sounds like BULLSHIT!!! Just wait until they get through the design and development stage. Then the hand will come out again for money to build the factory. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rushmc 23 #6 October 21, 2011 QuoteQuoteIt's a LOAN .. were there strings attached, like you must keep the money in the US? if not SUICC and wait for the repayments and interest. A loan that reqires the money to be kept in the US while building cars in Finland? And the reason is that nowhere in the entire US is there a facility that can build them here? Sounds like BULLSHIT!!! Just wait until they get through the design and development stage. Then the hand will come out again for money to build the factory. Same as Solindra (sp?) Got the 750M loan guarantee and then had the solar panels built in China"America will never be destroyed from the outside, if we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Abraham Lincoln Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
marks2065 0 #7 October 21, 2011 QuoteIt's a LOAN .. were there strings attached, like you must keep the money in the US? if not SUICC and wait for the repayments and interest. the Obama administration doesn't like to lock our money into the US, they feel it discriminates against foreign companies and people. I think all our money at this time should be locked into the US and US jobs, Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Amazon 7 #8 October 21, 2011 QuoteQuoteIt's a LOAN .. were there strings attached, like you must keep the money in the US? if not SUICC and wait for the repayments and interest. the Obama administration doesn't like to lock our money into the US, they feel it discriminates against foreign companies and people. I think all our money at this time should be locked into the US and US jobs, Its too bad that the people paying for all of the people you have voted for do not see that as a viable economic model... while moving millions of jobs out of this country for the sake of corporate profits. I bet you even believe them when they claim to be Patriotic Americans too.. Fool me once... shame on you... fool a group over and over and over... who is the FOOL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #9 October 21, 2011 QuoteAnd yet Tesla is doing it in the united states without federal money. uh, not really. http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/06/tesla-loan/ Feds Lend Tesla $465 Million to Build Model S Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
