This week, the world's largest carmaker said electric cars are a
joke, and a congressional report said federal subsidies are a waste.
You'd think that would shock President Obama out of his electric car
fantasy .
Back in March 2009, Obama announced plans to pour billions of
taxpayer dollars into the development of electric cars in the form of
grants, federal loans and tax credits. "This investment will not only
reduce our dependence on foreign oil, it will put Americans back to
work," Obama promised.
"It positions American manufacturers on the cutting edge of
innovation and solving our energy challenges." Plus, it would help meet
Obama's goal of getting a million plug-in cars on the road by 2015.
Fast forward to this week, and take a look at how Obama's grand vision is paying off.
First, the Congressional Budget Office released a detailed report on
Obama's massive electric car program. Its conclusion: The money "will
have little or no impact on the total gasoline use and greenhouse gas
emissions of the nation's vehicle fleet over the next several years."
It also found that, even with the $7,500 tax credits, electric cars
are a bad buy, costing owners far more over the life of the car than
traditional gas-powered vehicles.
Translation: Obama's electric car subsidies are a complete and total waste of money.
A few days later, the biggest carmaker on the planet pulled the plug on
its Toyota iQ, a car it once talked about mass marketing but now says
will be limited to just 100. No doubt Toyota noticed Nissan's Leaf and
Chevy's Volt aren't exactly flying off showroom floors.
As Toyota Vice Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada ever so politely put it:
"The current capabilities of electric vehicles do not meet society's
needs, whether it may be the distance the cars run or the costs or how
it takes a long time to charge."
Translation: Electric cars suck.
Then, to complete Obama's industrial policy failure trifecta, Tesla
Motors, which got a $465 million Energy Department loan, announced it
had cut its revenue forecast and is now trying to get a waiver on the
terms of that loan if it can't raise enough money from investors. The
Energy Department already amended the Tesla loan once.
But Tesla actually looks good compared with Obama's other
most-favored electric car startup — Fisker Automotive. Three years ago,
Vice President Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu stood in front of a
shuttered GM plant in Wilmington, Del., and announced that Fisker
Automotive would soon be cranking out 100,000 plug-ins a year after
getting $529 million in taxpayer subsidized loans.
"This is proof positive," Chu said, "that our efforts to create jobs,
invest in a clean energy economy and reduce carbon pollution are
working."
Three years later, that plant is empty and a local news outlet
reported this week that "the idea that at least 1,000 people would be
put back to work building cars for Fisker is fading."
Translation: This is shaping up to be Solyndra 2.0.
If you expect any of this to matter to Obama, think again. Even now,
he's boasting about how he's imposed tough new fuel economy mandates on
the industry, forcing carmakers to sell cars and trucks that get an
overall average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. It's a mandate that
can't possibly be met without shoving more electric cars onto the
market.
When it comes to being tragically, expensively and unwaveringly wrong, it doesn't get much worse than this.
Originally posted at
IBD.