Ecotality received $135 million in total funding from the federal government over the past eight years, including $35 million for two projects that were approved in 2005 and 2011, and a $100 million grant from the Obama administration's Recovery Act, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which gave a boost to energy-efficient companies.
Ecotality filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sept. 16, but officials at the Energy Department failed to give the inspector general notice in the months leading up to the bankruptcy.
Related: Tesla Tumbles
Other people's money.
Funny how these subsidized ventures always fail when the money has been spent.
A recent news story noted that Tesla was a top seller in the most expensive zip codes in the US. In Atherton, CA , #1 on the list of most expensive zip codes, where average home price is $6.7 million, Tesla has 15% market share.
Now keep in mind that the car is heavily subsidized by the middle class taxpayer.
So in effect, you have the mega-rich getting subsidies for a very high-end luxury car, whose price point makes no logical sense.
And that my friends nicely sums up the entire "green" movement. It is certainly the greatest fraud I have seen in my life time.
Exactly, and furthermore, you can bet your boots the people involved in these companies will have tidy nest eggs stashed away. Crony capitalists are just as filthy as the politicians who gave them the money.
Working in Silicon Valley, I can tell you that owning a Tesla in the Bay Area does have a very practical side for those who can afford luxury cars anyway: Diamond lane access. In addition to the fact that Tesla's drive like a dream (a friend let me drive his, and let me just say: wow), you can make your way down the peninsula on 101 to Silicon Valley in no time. Of course, diamond lane access is just another subsidy from the perspective that time equals money...
If I owned stock in Tesla and saw that graph I'd be selling short.