Is there a business (and the jobs it “creates”) in the so-called
“Green” sector that does not depend on massive government
subsidies, tax breaks, or foundation generosity for its
survival?
So far it has evaded my discovery.
On the other hand, finding those that do depend
on taxpayer handouts is a frequent occurrence. Every time the
layers are peeled on such companies, not only are significant
public dollars revealed, but so also is there little or no
justification for the money they receive.
The latest I’ve discovered is Scottsdale, Ariz.-based
ECOtality, which
is another in a litany of companies with
cutesy, Green-sounding names. Its work
was featured recently by the
Oregonian, which reported that the company will install
about 1,150 electric vehicle charging stations in homes, businesses
and public spaces in four of the state’s major cities. The project
— which extends to 16 cities across the country — is backed by
$115 million in Department of Energy grants.
“The launch is part of
the EV
Project, a three-year study of how people
use electric cars,” the newspaper reported. “The project will
collect non-personal data from the car and the charging station,
such as the amount of energy and length of charging time, to look
at how to create more energy-efficient systems.”
So there you go: Government-funded intrusion to study how
citizens plug new electronic gadgets into the wall. Did cell phones
start this way?
Anyway, the project gives the also-very-subsidized
sales of the
Nissan Leaf and
Chevrolet Volt some oomph. Drivers of those
electric vehicles who also sign up for the ECOtality
project will receive a free charging station, a
$1,200 value. With the $7,500 tax credit for the vehicle, those are
some big dollars to get somebody to develop a habit for the
government to study.
The Oregonian reports that 600 Oregonians have
already signed up for the program, which means $720,000 flowing
from your pockets to the test cases’, so they can have a free gas
pump lookalike in their garages that dispenses electricity. But
there are more as five other states are part of the project, with
ECOtality planning to give away a total of 15,085 charging systems
to the guinea pigs.
You might think this largess would lift ECOtality above
the profitability line. You’d be wrong. Through the third quarter
of last year the company had a net loss of $12.5 million, on $9.3
million in revenues, according to Securities and Exchange
Commission filings. This followed losses of $29.5 million in 2009
and more than $8 million in 2008, yet somehow the government
thought ECOtality was a good “investment” of your tax
dollars.
Over a year ago Tucson Tea Party leader Robert
Mayer
identified some ECOtality political
connections, after President Obama praised the company in his State
of the Union address. CEO Jonathan Read, board member Slade Mead,
and vice president Colin Read either gave maximum donations to, or
worked on the campaign of, former U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell of
Arizona, a Democrat earmarker extraordinaire until he lost his seat
last year. Undoubtedly the president appreciated Mitchell’s hold on
that Republican-leaning district for two straight terms. His
presence on the House Committee on Science and Technology, and on
the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, didn’t hurt
ECOtality’s cause either.
In practical terms the government is massively subsidizing
an inefficient, wasteful project. It takes 7 hours on a special
240-volt charger to maximize a Nissan Leaf battery. It will go 100
miles on a charge in perfect atmospheric conditions, if you’ve
stored it in climatically ideal garage. But only goes 70 miles on a
hot summer day, and less if you run its heater in the winter. And
you need an assessment of your home’s electrical system to
determine whether it can handle the charger.
This study of Leaf users’ habits will discover one thing:
When taxpayer funding runs out for this boondoggle, electric cars
will fail — in ECOtality. And then
Green jobholders will be off to find the
next government “investment.”
