$529M Gov't Loan To Develop $89,000 Hybrid Sports Car 293
theodp writes "The WSJ reports that a tiny car company backed by former VP Al Gore has just gotten a $529M US government loan to help build an $89,000 hybrid sports car in Finland. The award this week to California startup Fisker Automotive follows an earlier $465M government loan to Tesla Motors, purveyors of a $109,000 British-built electric Roadster. Fisker's other investors (PDF) include the Al Gharaffa Investment Co., a Cayman Islands corporation."
Re:Hybrid car (Score:2, Informative)
Nuclear, hydroelectricity, wind, solar, etc...
Re:US technology (Score:4, Informative)
Much is being made of the US Govt is funding these cars that are to be built outside the US, but the fact is that the technology is going to be owned by a US company. Fisker is essentially outsourcing every aspect of their development but the resulting technology, and the profits, will accrue to the US business and be taxed in the US.
Unless the big profits just happen to be made by an offshore sub-contractor which just happens to be owned by the people behind Fisker ;-)
Seriously, giving money to multinational corporations is just asking for that kind of scam. And when it happens, it will probably use a loophole in the laws so these guys do not even risk jail time.
Besides, hybrid technology is not that new anymore. I have my doubts if it should be reason enough for governments to fund a new car maker. A better use of tax money would be battery research that is released under Open Access, with the patents going to the public domain.
Re:Typical (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Hybrid car (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah but intel, etc didn't beg the government for a handout to do it...
Uh, yeah they fucking did!
Intel has received hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks -- that's flat-out gift money, by the way -- to build their fabs in Oregon as opposed to someplace else. And they've done this multiple times. The total subsidies, tax breaks, and other incentives they've received in their life time is huge.
But a loan is suddenly "begging the government for a handout" and something no other brand new technology had to do? Please! Let's say they never pay back a single dime -- then they're only equal to hundreds of other businesses.
Re:Fruits of a corrupt government (Score:3, Informative)
You're right. (Score:5, Informative)
Development of the $89,000 sports car is already complete. That car ships in a few months.
The DOE loan is for a $39K family car that will be built here.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/fisker-39k-plug-in-hybrid-electric-car-2012-ray-lane.php
Re:Hybrid car (Score:4, Informative)
Hydro is all used up; we're not building any more big dams. Same goes with nukes (there's one still in the process of being built, but I wouldn't hold my breath). So anything which results in increased demand for electricity is going to mostly end up increasing burning of coal.
Ahem... [wikipedia.org] Also... [wikipedia.org]
However you are right, we are only going to be increasing our coal consumption dramatically as we change our energy demands to electrical. Hopefully people do not ignore the long term environmental effects of electricity generation. At any rate the coal companies do have a point... centralized generation of any kind is bound to be less polluting then having millions of tiny little gas engines spreading the pollution all over the world.
Re:Hybrid car (Score:4, Informative)
water (hydro electric via damning rivers) is not green. It destroys the ecosystem in any river it is implemented in. Migratory river fish such as salmon are rapidly going extinct due to damning of rivers.
Re:Very misleading (Score:3, Informative)
Rupert Murdoch doesn't hate Al Gore, but he loves misinformed people bickering about half-truths on both sides of any issue.
Re:Colin Powell backed company gets government gra (Score:3, Informative)
So why did the WSJ play up Gore's involvement, but not Powell's?
Because they want to make sure people still think Republicans and Democrats aren't sleeping together and pushing the same agenda. Ventura said it best: Politics is a lot like pro wrestling... They fight for show, but off the ring, they're best buddies.
DERP. (Score:5, Informative)
Tesla got a loan to develop a sedan (from the ground up) that they will produce in the US.
They currently sell a Lotus Elise-based sports car, because (as a start up) they couldn't afford to develop both the drivetrain AND the rest of the car. It was more efficient for them to source the body/frame from Lotus.
Not only that, but the current generation sports car that Tesla's selling is intended to bring down the cost of the drivetrain package through production volume, while subsidizing development for the sedan.
THE MORE YOU KNOOOW~
Re:Fruits of a corrupt government (Score:2, Informative)
Yes the corporate bailout was welfare, yes the $200 a child for school supplies is welfare, yes the cash for clunkers was welfar...
Conservatives were against it...some republicans weren't, you decide of republicans are still conservative.
Re:The summary reeks of an agenda (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Electric sports cars - a good plan (Score:1, Informative)
There are four main things which kill electric sports cars for me:
Until someone can produce an electric car which: at the very least, handles as well as comparable ICE cars; has a top end that's unlikely ever to be reached on the track; can hold enough of a charge to survive a track day or autocross event; and doesn't cost twice as much as a comparable ICE vehicle, then I'm afraid I'm just not interested.
Re:Typical (Score:3, Informative)
Another unelected bureaucrat blowing our money (Score:2, Informative)
Why does an unelected government bureaucrat get to spend the money of hard-working individuals and legitimate companies on this risky, politically connected startup?
Do we really think that an unelected bureaucrat, who won't be accountable for the success or failure of his decisions in the span of his tenure, will make better investment decisions that the people who earned the money in the first place? Even if by some chance it beats the odds and is successful, does that make it right?
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss, except with a different set of special interests suckin' at the taxpayer teat.
Re:Hybrid car (Score:3, Informative)
A tax break is NOT 'flat-out gift money.' It's keeping the money you've earned.
You should get a job and earn some money. You'll quickly understand the difference.
Re:Hybrid car (Score:3, Informative)
It's more about the silt being help up by dams, the fish can manage just fine with fish ladders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_ladder [wikipedia.org]