A123 files for bankruptcy

[halik]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...tery-maker-a123-systems-files-bankruptcy.html

Wah wah

 

[dmcowen674]

A123 files for bankruptcy

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...tery-maker-a123-systems-files-bankruptcy.html

Wah wah

This is another failure of the 1%.

What happened Job Creators?

Where's the jobs?

I bet all the money is safely in offshore bank accounts of the rich 1% execs.

 

[PokerGuy]

Not surprising, just another example of fail in this administration.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romneyhttp://topics.bloomberg.com/mitt-romney/ said last month that Obama has picked “losers” for alternative-energy loans and grants.

Thank you for arriving just in the nick of time Captain Obvious!

 

[Jaskalas]

This is another failure of the 1%.

What happened Job Creators?

Where's the jobs?

I bet all the money is safely in offshore bank accounts of the rich 1% execs.

You should call up some Democrats, get them to send more money their way.

 

[Bowfinger]

It's not surprising that the usual suspects are cheering for the "failure" of American companies, and against America taking a lead role in green energy, inevitably to become one of the biggest growth industries of the next century. Meanwhile, according to the story in the OP, a Chinese company is eager to invest as much as $465 million in A123. Why is that, I wonder? What do they know that the O'bashers don't? My guess is that aside from not being blinded by partisan hatred, they also lack the American greed queens' fixation on instant gratification. They're looking longer term, and they're confident it's an investment that will pay off.

 

[momeNt]

These "startups" are mostly oil company and conservative plants. Their entire goal isn't to make car batteries or alternative energy solutions. Their goal is to fail and make alternative energy solutions unattainable, and to get Romney elected. Obama got played.

 

[monovillage]

These "startups" are mostly oil company and conservative plants. Their entire goal isn't to make car batteries or alternative energy solutions. Their goal is to fail and make alternative energy solutions unattainable, and to get Romney elected. Obama got played.

It was a super double secret energy conspiracy! fud derp derp derp fud.

 

[halik]

It's not surprising that the usual suspects are cheering for the "failure" of American companies, and against America taking a lead role in green energy, inevitably to become one of the biggest growth industries of the next century. Meanwhile, according to the story in the OP, a Chinese company is eager to invest as much as $465 million in A123. Why is that, I wonder? What do they know that the O'bashers don't? My guess is that aside from not being blinded by partisan hatred, they also lack the American greed queens' fixation on instant gratification. They're looking longer term, and they're confident it's an investment that will pay off.

There was no chinese deal, Johnson Controls acquired the battery business for $125mio.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/articl...ruptcy-jci-agrees-to-acquire-battery-business

More fundamentally, government should be funding research and development, not operations. Taking unviable technology and subsidizing its operation doesn't make it into viable technology. Same goes for ethanol.

 

[halik]

This is another failure of the 1%.

What happened Job Creators?

Where's the jobs?

I bet all the money is safely in offshore bank accounts of the rich 1% execs.

Because the rich one percents are the people that want government to pour money into into private enterprise. You may want to re-read what you wrote, for it is lacking any semblance of thought.

 

[Jaskalas]

If this was designed to be a forward looking R&D project, then perhaps it should have been labeled as such and the appropriate unending funds openly discussed.

You don't play a shell game with kickstarter money, go bankrupt, and then claim you were doing something good. Something that won't be profitable in our generation, created / funded under the guise of a for profit business, is flat out fraud.

 

[rchiu]

Yet again another proof of blind subsidy based on political agenda does not work. Eventually everything comes down to something liberals hate so much, capitalism and return on investment. Without ROI, the correct economic model, these liberals are wasting tax payers money, and you wonder why Obama's policy put American in debt far deeper than any president in the entire US history.

 

[pm]

I really love electric motors - I have a degree as an electrical engineer and I find the whole concept of electric motors to be pretty fascinating. Along those lines, about 8 years ago I started flying electric radio controlled model airplanes. At first I started by winding my own motors, but I soon found that batteries were as important, if not more important, than the motor. To this day, in my mind A123 batteries are the best batteries available - except in terms of power/weight. But if you are looking for a battery that you can charge and discharge quickly, that has really good electrical characteristics, and pretty good power/weight, and that don't explode when you crash (like lipolys are prone to do), A123's are as good as I know of. There's a whole bunch of electric model helicopter pilots that I know who won't use anything other than A123's.

That said, I was always disappointed by how hard they were to buy. Back when they were first released, I contacted A123 directly and asked how I could buy their cells and they aimed me at a super-expensive development kit. The "best" way to get them was to take apart 18V DeWalt cordless drill battery packs (google "DeWalt A123" for all the instructions). But that was expensive - DeWalt stuff isn't cheap in general, and buying a name-brand cordless drill battery pack simply to take it apart to get the cells inside seemed like a stupid way to do it. While I recognize that end-user customer service is hard and expensive, I remain disappointed in A123's management that they never made their products more readily available to homebrew electric builders. Despite one phone call, and several emails, I could never get A123 to sell anything to me - or to tell me how to get what I wanted through other companies that resold A123 cells. For my really large battery installation at home (60V 80Ah), I use Thunder Sky batteries (Chinese) because they actually sell batteries to people.

You guys can talk conspiracy theories, and the Obama presidency's culpability (or otherwise), but from my perspective the main problem A123 had was that they didn't handle the manufacturing ramp from initial concept to high-volume manufacturing very well, and they had quality control issues (see the big recall they did last year). They were pooly managed, and it's a real shame because their cells remain the best that I know of for certain applications.

 

[Moonbeam]

“Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

 

[sunzt]

29 out of 33 companies are still on track to pay off the loans. Risk is an inherent part of any investment and there are bound to be failures. Even still, 87% of the loans so far are still good which is a good investment success rate considering VCs are much lower.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/10/05/fact-check-half-of-fed-funded-green-companies-bankrupt/

 

[Jaskalas]

29 out of 33 companies are still on track to pay off the loans. Risk is an inherent part of any investment and there are bound to be failures. Even still, 87% of the loans so far are still good which is a good investment success rate considering VCs are much lower.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/10/05/fact-check-half-of-fed-funded-green-companies-bankrupt/

Now that's something you don't hear every day. Obama could have used such a retort in the debate.

 

[halik]

29 out of 33 companies are still on track to pay off the loans. Risk is an inherent part of any investment and there are bound to be failures. Even still, 87% of the loans so far are still good which is a good investment success rate considering VCs are much lower.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/10/05/fact-check-half-of-fed-funded-green-companies-bankrupt/

What you mean to say is 29/33 of the loans aren't in default - that is the companies are making the coupon payments (~6%?). Paying back means returning the principal (corp debt doesn't amortize) is a whole another problem that will generally require private refinancing... or DOE is stuck in a perpetual loan situation.

 

[dmcowen674]

29 out of 33 companies are still on track to pay off the loans.

Risk is an inherent part of any investment and there are bound to be failures. Even still, 87% of the loans so far are still good which is a good investment success rate considering VCs are much lower.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/10/05/fact-check-half-of-fed-funded-green-companies-bankrupt/

You wouldn't know this by the lying Republicans especially the ones on here.

 

[EagleKeeper]

You wouldn't know this by the lying Republicans especially the ones on here.

You are the one that wants all companies to fail. Afraid they make money and run a business efficiently. Jealously is a dangerous mistress

 

[Yreka]

Glad to see the shares staying in the US ( Johnson Controls = Fremont CA)

I don't mind (as a taxpayer) funding tech at all, in fact I would rather this than most of the other shit we spend on.

I do mind, however pouring money into an industry while another government is playing market manipulation games. Our Government ( every admin since Clinton) basically sits back and lets it happen. (See Solanydra's current price fixing lawsuit as an example)

 

[Doppel]

You wouldn't know this by the lying Republicans especially the ones on here.

Or by your bullsh*t, retard. Your first post in this thread you celebrate the company's demise.

 

[Franz316]

I'm not sure why anyone would be happy about this, or consider it 'good' news.

 

[Uhtrinity]

Now that's something you don't hear every day. Obama could have used such a retort in the debate.

Biden did in his debate when Ryan attacked the Solyndra deal.

 

[Moonbeam]

I'm not sure why anyone would be happy about this, or consider it 'good' news.

It's up there with a party line vote to block Obama's recovery plans so he won't get reelected.

 

[drebo]

This is another failure of the 1%.

What happened Job Creators?

Where's the jobs?

I bet all the money is safely in offshore bank accounts of the rich 1% execs.

The problem is that all this money was given to businesses that don't have sustainable business models to begin with.

It isn't about job creators not able to create jobs...it's about businesses with stable business plans needing assistance to grow.

Or do you want to start outlawing businesses from bankruptcy?

 

[monovillage]

I really love electric motors - I have a degree as an electrical engineer and I find the whole concept of electric motors to be pretty fascinating. Along those lines, about 8 years ago I started flying electric radio controlled model airplanes. At first I started by winding my own motors, but I soon found that batteries were as important, if not more important, than the motor. To this day, in my mind A123 batteries are the best batteries available - except in terms of power/weight. But if you are looking for a battery that you can charge and discharge quickly, that has really good electrical characteristics, and pretty good power/weight, and that don't explode when you crash (like lipolys are prone to do), A123's are as good as I know of. There's a whole bunch of electric model helicopter pilots that I know who won't use anything other than A123's.

That said, I was always disappointed by how hard they were to buy. Back when they were first released, I contacted A123 directly and asked how I could buy their cells and they aimed me at a super-expensive development kit. The "best" way to get them was to take apart 18V DeWalt cordless drill battery packs (google "DeWalt A123" for all the instructions). But that was expensive - DeWalt stuff isn't cheap in general, and buying a name-brand cordless drill battery pack simply to take it apart to get the cells inside seemed like a stupid way to do it. While I recognize that end-user customer service is hard and expensive, I remain disappointed in A123's management that they never made their products more readily available to homebrew electric builders. Despite one phone call, and several emails, I could never get A123 to sell anything to me - or to tell me how to get what I wanted through other companies that resold A123 cells. For my really large battery installation at home (60V 80Ah), I use Thunder Sky batteries (Chinese) because they actually sell batteries to people.

You guys can talk conspiracy theories, and the Obama presidency's culpability (or otherwise), but from my perspective the main problem A123 had was that they didn't handle the manufacturing ramp from initial concept to high-volume manufacturing very well, and they had quality control issues (see the big recall they did last year). They were pooly managed, and it's a real shame because their cells remain the best that I know of for certain applications.

Thank you for the most informative post we're going to get on the subject.