Should the US government lend more than half a billion dollars to a foreign hybrid manufacturer?

No

The money would have been better spent on fleet vehicles power by battery and used by the governent.

Postal vans

small cars used by the military and the agencies, and the Park Service, etc.

Interchangeable batteries changed out on a fleet service basis is the way to bring the electric car into use, not the privileged class running individual cars with no hookups to charge them.

The richie richies will do the Tesla/Fiskar fad for 2 years then move on when they see how impractical it is for them.

The electric car movement will suffer a huge setback.

No probs with dropping a billion of electric cars, but why not do it right?

Is all policy made in Washington stupid?

Is it something in the water there?

There will probably always be a luxury/sports segment of the automotive market (one that's now disproportionately carbon-intensive), so reductions there would be good. The article does note that "Fisker said most of its DOE loan will be used to finance U.S. production of a $40,000 family sedan that has yet to be designed". In any case, I'd prefer production assistance for full hybrids, not the half-assed hybrids like those released by GM that got barely an extra few MPG. Honda and especially Toyota have seemed more serious about the technology, and have tended to get greater COMBINED fuel economy ratings (city/highway, not just the highest of the two). Maybe loans or other assistance should be based on the expected percentage of fuel savings over a conventional model, not just whether something is a "hybrid".

you like a historical past lesson. whilst intelligence comments surfaced that Libyan chief Muammar el-Qaddafi had plans to assassinate American diplomats in Rome and Paris, President Reagan expelled all Libyan diplomats from the U.S. (would 6, 1981) and closed Libya's diplomatic venture in Washington, D.C. Pan Am Flight 103 from London to long island exploded over the small city of Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 human beings (178 human beings) on board have been killed, alongside with 11 on the floor. in accordance to the State branch's "varieties of international Terrorism, 1991," released in April 1992, the bombing of Pan Am 103 "grew to become into an action authorized by using the Libyan government." An American soldier grew to become into killed whilst a bomb grew to become into detonated at l. a. Belle, a discotheque in West Berlin general to be time-honored with off-accountability U.S. servicemen. A Turkish woman grew to become into killed, and just about 200 others have been wounded. U.S. intelligence supplies pointed out Libya as being liable for the attack.

American auto manufacturers have gotten a little bit of money too.

Fisker is a good company with a good car. Yeah it's expensive, because it's their first model. They'll likely follow Tesla's strategy of introducing a luxury model first and then developing more affordable cars once their initial research and development have been paid off.

Let's be honest - the only reason you're objecting here is because Gore invested in Fisker.

And yes, it's helpful in the fight against global warming because plug-in hybrids like the Volt and Karma significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions as compared to standard gas cars.

Half a billion? That's less than one week fighting in Iraq. The car company might actually pay back the money, but our time in Iraq will just produce terrorists.

Nope, but what else could you expect from congress besides stupidity.