Pirate's Cove

Obamanomics

(The Hill) ECOtality Inc., an Energy Department-backed maker of electric car charging systems, is facing a major cash crunch and could file for bankruptcy.

The company, which has been awarded nearly $100 million in grant funding under the 2009 stimulus law, disclosed Monday that it’s weighing a restructuring or sale as it seeks more outside capital.

ECOtality, in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, listed several “adverse developments” that together “significantly impact its ability to meet its ongoing obligations and to fund anticipated operating losses.”

But, somehow, according to the DOE, ECOtality was a success!!!!

But an Energy Department spokesman said Monday that the funding for an electric vehicle project by ECOtality achieved its goal.

“The Energy Department’s grant to ECOtality was used for the installation and data collection of charging stations in cities across America where sales of plug-in electric cars are on the rise. Meant to establish the seeds of infrastructure needed to support a growing market for advanced vehicles, the company installed more than 12,500 charging stations in 18 U.S. cities — or approximately 97 percent of their goal,” spokesman Bill Gibbons said.

But it still wasn’t enough to make the company any money in order to continue operating. But, then, in Liberal World, Other People’s companies (not their own, of course) should operate at a loss. The company was pissing away money for products with little demand. Private companies are refusing to dump their own money into ECOtality, now that the taxpayer money is being cut off. They’re having lots of problems with being forced to pay certain employees and contractors under FLSA regulations (weird: liberals involved in poor pay practices????) Oh, and then, from the SEC filing

Further, the Company is facing some uncertainty regarding the resolution of a phenomenon occurring in some of the Company’s previously installed EVSEs which causes overheating, and in certain rare cases melting, of the connector plug that connects the EVSE to the electric vehicle when charging. The Company, along with certain automotive original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) and equipment suppliers, has been actively evaluating the issue in an attempt to determine the cause and to address the problem.

So, some of these charging stations, which were supposedly a success!!!!!!! cause melting, and they have no idea why. ECOtality may be forced to sell of assets or perhaps even the whole company.