I'm reading Fisker to Buy Delaware GM Plant for Plug-In Hybrid Production and it all sounds great on the surface.
Fisker Automotive is buying an old GM factory in Delaware and it will employ 2,000 workers plus supplier jobs. The family-oriented, plug-in hybrid sedan will sell for $39K after a tax credit which could be $7,500?
The catch of a tax credit is that you have to float the amount until the tax check comes. So really you are buying (borrowing for with interest) a $45K family sedan and getting a refund later.
Funding for the deal will come from a conditional loan of $528.7 million from the U.S. Department of Energy.
That's taxpayer money going into a technology laden, hardware heavy vehicle that will compete with the other hybrids with proven track records that weren't subsidized.
If it's a plug-in hybrid then it will compete with the Chevy (vaporware) Volt which will sell in the $40K range and also pull more from the electrical grid than deserts in the Middle East.
Reality check.
People who pay taxes in this country are competing with India and China in a global economy. We are competing with people who ride scooters to work and exist on a much lower standard of living. We haven't gotten this concept yet, but it's evident in the slow job growth and eroding standard of living for the average US worker.
We need to be lean and create lean ideas for conserving resources, not convoluted tax programs for high tech limited production luxury cars.
Give me algae gasoline, give me clean diesel, give me a plug-in hybrid car if I live in Quebec where 90+% of the electric is generated by hydro.
Just give me some simple energy solutions for my tax dollar that will look ahead 30 years.
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