Electric Car Maker Folds, Salinas (CA) Loses $500,000

KSBW Channel 8 ^ | July 18, 2011 | Amy Larson

[keat]

A Salinas car manufacturing company that was expected to build environmentally friendly electric cars and create new jobs folded before almost any cars could run off the assembly line.

The city of Salinas had invested more than half a million dollars in Green Vehicles, an electric car start-up company.

All of that money is now gone, according to Green Vehicles President and Co-Founder Mike Ryan.

The start-up company set up shop in Salinas in the summer of 2009 after the city gave Ryan a $300,000 community development grant.

When the company still ran into financial trouble last year, the city of Salinas handed to Ryan an additional $240,000 in investment money.

Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue said he was "surprised and disappointed" by the news. City officials were equally irked that Ryan notified them through an email that his company had crashed and burned.

Salinas Redevelopment Director Jeff Weir said Green Vehicles folded because of a "lack of investors," and a $2.7 million grant from California Energy Commission that never materialized.

Donohue said he will work with the state to try to get at least $240,000 back from the now-defunct company.

Mike Ryan YouTube Green Vehicles President and Co-Founder Mike Ryan

Last year, Salinas city officials said they were excited about Green Vehicles moving from San Jose to Salinas because they wanted to turn Salinas into a hub for alternative energy production.

City leaders wooed Green Vehicles to jump-start the sputtering local company and turn Salinas into an "electric valley." Donohue and Weir both voiced their high hopes for Green Vehicles.

The start-up company promised city leaders that it would create 70 new jobs and pay $700,000 in taxes a year to Salinas.

Green Vehicles was supposed to be up and running by March 2010 inside their 80,000 square-foot space at Firestone Business Park off of Abbot Street.

Ryan had lofty goals, listing his company's mission as: "To make the best clean commuter vehicles in the world; To manufacture with a radical sense of responsibility; To engage in deep transparency as an inspiration for new ways of doing business."

Green Vehicles designed two vehicles, the TRIAC 2.0 and the MOOSE, which it planned to manufacture.

On July 12, Ryan wrote a blog post announcing that his company was closing.

"The truth is that not realizing the vision for this company is a huge disappointment," Ryan wrote.

Ryan outlined three mistakes he made while steering his company into a brick wall. All three reasons boiled down failing to generate enough capital.

[keat]

Company President Mike Ryan recently revealed a new strategy for his fledgling company. Abandoning the previous plan to sell $25,000 EV's to the masses, Ryan offered that "If we could just find one buyer willing to plunk down $120 million for one of these babies, we'll be in the pink".

[COBOL2Java]

Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue said he was "surprised and disappointed" by the news.

Translation: "Darn it! We ran out of other people's money!"

[GOP Poet]

Great quote.

[keat]

Salinas Mayor Dennis Donohue said he was "surprised and disappointed" by the news.

Translation: "Darn it! We ran out of other people's money!"

Little known fact; every time a city passes along a block grant like this, an "overhead factor" in the name of administrative expense accrues to the city. That money, perhaps 10%, is sucked in the the black hole forever. So, in a way, the city scored a small victory here. At the expense of the taxpayer of course.

[LibLieSlayer]

Thanks... he has many good ones to choose from.

LLS

[count-your-change]

Oh my! That thing is HIDEOUS!!!

[EternalVigilance]

"We aspired to be the fast-moving vehicle platform for innovations from a space in high flux: the deliberate first mover. I believed, and still believe, that with resources we could deliver a lighter weight electric vehicle, purpose-built for the daily drive; that we could integrate the newest battery and electric drivetrain technology more quickly with our lower minimum efficient scale production system; that we could lead the charge into the full benefits of a connected vehicle, a peer-to-peer and traditional carshare-ready vehicle, and someday an autonomous vehicle; that we could introduce a buy local option to a manufacturing industry whose focus is very nearly the opposite; and that in doing so, we could bring incredible value to consumers whose needs have been so narrowly represented by the incumbent automakers."

[keat]

Oh my! That thing is HIDEOUS!!!

That's cold.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

The General is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice hitherto little known in our American Army is growing into fashion.

Never mind the fact that General Washington was one of the worst offenders of his own order.

[don-o]

The rules of this board come down on Washington’s side rather than Patton’s.

[Ken H]

I can always tell when someone doesn't know what the hell they are talking about. They can't state it simply for the common man or woman.

Absolutely right!

Another pet peeve is a refusal to answer a simple yes or no question. A lot of times you will get a six paragraph reply that doesn't address the question that was asked. It's an answer designed to muddle rather than clarify.

[nascarnation]

Pocket money compared to this electric car plant failure:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011106240340

[don-o]

Pending some proof of the assertion, hypocrisy does not not refute the worth of the statement that Washington made.

Nor does it change the rules of the board.

[GOP Poet]

I can be superficial and vain and the man looks fine to me. It isn’t about the mayor’s looks anyway. It is about the use of his professional judgment (or lack there of), his ability to protect his constituents from thieves and cons, and his lack of business acumen. He could be as pretty as a peacock or as ugly as an old hen, if he can’t take care of his constituents and protect then from trash like this scam artist Ryan he is no good what so even.

[keat]

And here's another:

U.S. House panel may subpoena Solyndra over loan

Ouch.

[Springman]

After reading this, I started to think about Allen Park and “it’s” movie studio.

[GOP Poet]

Another pet peeve is a refusal to answer a simple yes or no question. A lot of times you will get a six paragraph reply that doesn't address the question that was asked. It's an answer designed to muddle rather than clarify.

Yes. Perfectly stated :-) and so very true!

[LibLieSlayer]

I never debated the rules of FR... I simply gave you another POV from another great American General. Would it surprise you to know that George Patton was kin to George Washington? Check out his ancestry.

LLS

____________________________________________________________

“Born in 1885 in San Gabriel, California, Patton came from a long line of American soldiers. He was the descendant of George Washington, and his family could be traced back to a king of England and one of France, and it is said that he was related to 16 of those who signed the Magna Charta."

http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b4pattong.htm

[GOP Poet]

This incident to me is very similar to what happened with Obama. He was a black man and displayed superficial qualities that deluded and allowed for complete delusion on the left. Their brain washed disassociation from reality as a group makes them so easily scammers and the scammed as well as cons and the conned.

Fantasy world and lives built on evil, ego gratification such as these lefties allows for the major scams such as the election of Barack Obama. Both Ryan and Obama were always clearly empty suits and con artists taking advantage of the brain washed masses. Of course in Obama's situation it was also Soros the puppet string holder that won.

[Fightin Whitey]

‘demographics of a Sunday flea market in Tijuana’

That is a fine droll line.