Over the course of the past 6 months, we’ve seen a number of electric car companies fall by the wayside. Carlsbad, CA manufacturer Aptera, Inc and Salinas, CA startup Green Vehicles, Inc are among recent bankruptcies. The recent announcement by Ford that it is reducing the number of hybrids for its 2012 product mix could raise doubts about the future of this fledgling industry.
However, in my opinion, Aptera either fall prey to the Solyndra scandal due to a slow down on funding as the investigation into the Department of Energy and the Obama Administration ramped up or, more likely, Aptera just didn’t have any high influence fund raisers for the Obama Administration affiliated to it so it didn’t get the VIP treatment necessary to facilitate the processing of their funding requests.
With the demise of these companies and others, there is opportunity as well. Talent, technology and inventory is being freed up and, if the remainder of the field such as Li-ion Motors and EvCarCo have their act together, they will take steps to recruit the talent and acquire the technologies that have promise.
One thing seems certain to us. Electric vehicle technology is here to stay and, while the most focused and intelligent and frugal in the field will survive this fallout, the consolidation opportunities can provide a significant leg up for the best.
Keep a close eye on this sector, the best is yet to come.
