Battery maker Ener1, a DOE grant recipient, goes bankrupt

[targetpractice]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Electric car battery maker Ener1 filed for bankruptcy Thursday, three years after receiving a $118.5 million grant from the U.S. government.

Ener1 (HEVV), which makes a variety of energy storage devices under different subsidiaries, is the parent company of EnerDel, the car battery division that received the government grant to help build a manufacturing plant in Indianapolis.

Unlike bankrupt Solyndra, the advanced solar panel maker that became a lightning rod for critics of Obama's stimulus spending when it closed its factory and liquidated, Ener1 promised its business will proceed as usual.

The company said the "voluntarily initiated" bankruptcy filing won't impact any of its subsidiaries, including EnerDel.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/26/technology/ener1_bankruptcy/index.htm

Comment: Here we go... I look forward to the administration's defense of the critics. IMHO, it is a no-brainer to explain the value proposition for building better batteries... "Hey, ya'll remember when your laptops, MP3 players, and cell phones only worked for a few hours? Well, thanks to companies outside the US, those days are long gone. We need to be a part of that research and development..."

[geomon666]

1. Business will proceed as usual?

Well isn't that the problem?

[agentS]

2. Could be a problem

Business do go belly-up, with or without government funding. So it would be nice to see a chart of business collapses with and w/o government funding and see if it makes a statistically significant data set.

Yes Solyndra failing is bad, but not all that bad. If China hogs all the silicon, then guess what? We have Solyndra tech to rely on.

[octothorpe]

8. Beacon Power filed for bankruptcy last November too

I actually invested a small amount of stock in the company too. Anyway, they got some grants from DOE to develop their technology and build some plants.

I'm curious how much of these failures are due to mismanagement vs the market vs political environment (people doing what they can to make them fail for whatever agenda they have)... Also, in addition to what you stated about the chart of businesses collapses with and w/o government funding, I'd be curious to see a list of successful "green" businesses that got government funding. After all, it's usually only the failures we hear the most about.

[alp227]

3. Romney will distract from HIS OWN business-busting and the much more expensive bank bailouts

by repeatedly bringing this up on the campaign trail.

[piblogger]

4. This bankruptcy has little to do with politics or policy and more to do with the public

The failure of this company should not come as a surprise to anyone. In fact earlier this year I wrote a 2-Part story titled "With the failure of the electric car concept in America what impact will this have on the lithium ion battery global supply chain?" that provides an in-depth look at the sector.

What is interesting is that this recent failure has little to do with failed policy per say, and more to do with the public's unwillingness to end its longtime love affair with fossil fuel.

Here are the links to Part 1 (http://wp.me/p4HrB-2Xa) and Part 2 (http://wp.me/p4HrB-2XM).

The question is simply this . . . how can we turn our own unwillingness to move away from fossil fuels into a shortcoming on the part of any political party? It's like ignoring our parents warning not to put our hands on a hot stove and then getting mad at them when we don't listen and get burned.

[targetpractice]

6. Nice insight... Thanks for the links! n/t

[FarCenter]

5. An old-line parts supplier making batteries for the Norwegians and Chinese? Madness!

Even a cursory review should convince you that lending taxpayer dollars to this company is madness.

The Del in EnerDel, the subsidiary of Ener1 that got the loan, apparently stands for Delphi, the old-line parts supplier spun out of GM and which has been through bankruptcy at least once. They are a partner in the joint venture subsidiary, which is the actual battery maker.

The major customers appear to have been Volvo, which is now owned by the Chinese, and Think Global, a Norwegian startup making electric cars. The latter was to be the biggest customer, but it has just been through bankruptcy.

Government involvement in this idiocy began in the Bush administration. Look for the Indiana republican payoff angle.

[nanabugg]

7. Failure is part of research. The how many computers hit the dust bin before the public knew ?

It is a wonder the US can accomplish anything with the haters all around.