Posted on 09/06/2013 11:38:20 AM PDT by george76
Humvee manufacturer AM General paid $3 million at auction to purchase the U.S. Department of Energy‘s loan to Vehicle Production Group, a defunct maker of wheelchair-accessible vans that struggled to meet performance targets and shut down earlier this year.
Together with $5 million seized from the company’s accounts in April, that means the DOE recovered just $8 million of the $50 million it loaned VPG back in March 2011 under a government program designed to promote advanced technology vehicles. VPG’s plan was to sell handicapped vans that run on compressed natural gas.
Taxpayers also took a loss on the collapse of Fisker Automotive, which was awarded $529 million under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, but received only $193 million before the DOE cut them off for failing to meet performance targets.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
It may not have been a total loss.
Perhaps some Democratic politicians got some campaign contributions from some company employees.
Just where are those gas tanks going to go in those vehicles with a lowered interior floor?
“..Perhaps some Democratic politicians got some campaign contributions from some company employees...”
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Perhaps??? It has been the purpose of every one of the GREEN SCAMS -— money from the phony companies and keeping the Enviro-Whackos’ money flowing to the RATS.
Haha . . . I hear you . . . I was just being a tad sarcastic.
No chance that would be dangerous in a rear-end collision./sarc.
Those tanks don’t rupture easy from outside pressure. They are typically fiber-composites similar to medical oxygen and scuba tanks. They are designed to withstand ~4,000 psi with a significant safety factor.
So thst’s what the dang silly vehicle is my brother in law have seen! Looks like a piece of poo and now I see it is. Was.. whatever.
They are still selling the gasoline versions.
There are two of them where I live. Both seem to be used to ferry people from the projects to the save-a-lot.
The here have cng or nat gas markings or something like that.
Yes, the CNG has been an option with ~290 mile range.
http://www.vpgautos.com/experience-mv-1/about/
bump
Only 193 million.
How is it possible in the english language to write with credibility the words 'only 193 million'?
First I heard of them. If I am reading it correctly, they haven’t built a plant yet.
I didn't see one either, but it sounds like a well-positioned (nudge, nudge) technology given the likelihood of fracking producing an overshoot in production capacity of natural gas. They're implying that Buffet may involved, but it could be hype.
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