EV Companies Pull Plug In EV State
Yet another hopeful maker of electric vehicles called it quits in Indiana. Bright Automotive of Anderson, Ind., announced this week that it will wind down operations after withdrawing an application for a DOE loan. This is the latest in a series of EV companies that went belly-up in Indiana, where Gov. Mitch Daniels had vowed in January 2010 to make the state “the electric vehicle state.” The Chicago Tribune lists the failed companies:
- Last year, Think, an electric vehicle manufacturer in Elkhart propped up by government incentives, filed for bankruptcy.
- A month ago, Ener1, the battery-maker that was to supply the Think vehicle from three manufacturing facilities in Indiana, filed for bankruptcy reorganization.
- An unrelated plug-in manufacturer the state tried to nurture has yet to get off the ground.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
More by Bertel Schmitt
Comments
Join the conversation
Can't we finally admit that consumers as a whole don't want EVs? They are only being bought in limited numbers - at a heavily subsidized price, by well off people as vanity statements. Enough!
The rising start of the Republican party gave government subsidies to EV companies and they went out of business?!? No wonder he didn't run for president. Republicans would have had to admit that they are just as bad as Democrats.
I wonder how many companies that produced gas-powered vehicles litter the road of history. Surely not one failed since gas was a pure consumer choice. You people sound like horse buggy manufacturers.
Hasn't Th!nk been bankrupt or near it for like 15 years? They were owned by Ford at one point, but they clearly only make glorified golf carts, much like GM. Nothing that's going to compete with a Leaf or a Volt.