Tim Cavanaugh
Reason Magazine
1/26/2012
After spending $55 million of a $118.5 million grant from Stephen Chu’s Department of Energy, Ener1, an Indianapolis-based maker of batteries whose facilities were toured by Reason’s Ronald Bailey in 2010, has declared bankruptcy.
Ener1, which got the grant for its EnerDel subsidiary, is another candidate in the increasingly competitive race to become the Next Solyndra. Bailey took that bet in early November, but I believe the title had already been won by the Bay State’s own Beacon Power the day before Bailey’s pick. However, since Beacon only spent $39.5 million of its DOE-guaranteed loan, Ener1 has a higher cumulative score.
One thing we know. It’s going to be a long time before we see the last Solyndra.
Although Ener1 received taxpayer money from the Obama Administration and President Obama unwisely tried to advance his green pork agenda in the State of the Union address, the president did not, as has been suggested elsewhere, single out Ener1 in the speech. The company he referred to is Energetx Composites, a maker of turbine blades headquartered in Holland Michigan, the Tulip City…
The article continues at Reason.com
Related: Biden praised stimulus-backed Ener1 one year before company went bankrupt
