Anyone Else Think It Wont Happen?

[Smitty901]

Well said.
This world continues to get smaller and smaller. I think that, if $185M were stolen from the Gov't, they would hound you to the ends of the earth!

Sense when? The last few years we have had a long list of green energy companies flat out rip us off for billions. Health care web sight . Not one is locked up. In fact one company that screwed up healthcare web is working for the IRS now.
Come on back to the real world. The money only goes to the crooks that support the agenda and funnel a percentage back.

 

[Kuda]

I ferget how many times we've said it but what you just said is spot on!

The ATVM loan, by terms, must be used to fund ongoing operations.

I understand that to mean that Elio has to be making Elios in order to get the ATVM funding.

PS: Making Elios can/may include making the 25 E Series for crash testing & touring, etc.

 

[pistonboy]

The fact is that EM did not set the expected value of the equipment instead it was Comau who did that. Comau partly specializes in such activity and their reputation is at least partly based on making accurate estimates and knowing what is junk and what is not junk. I would trust their analysis of the situation to be much closer to the actual value than speculation from random people on the internet who do not even know exactly what EM has to sell or what condition it is in. As Comau, and their equipment broker partners, have not yet had a chance to actually sell the equipment to prove whether their estimates are correct I would bet once they do they end up being within, or very close to, their estimated value range.

The only goal EM has not been able to meet yet is the production deadline which is the end of this phase of the project. That goal is the hardest to predict, and indeed is the one frequently missed by automakers both start-up and established, because it is dependent on many things that are beyond EM's control including things that can pop-up unexpectedly such as the lawsuit from the Caddo Parish commissioner which pretty much derailed the entire plan at the time. That one event directly lead to the long delay which directly caused ALL the previous production delays and also derailed the private funding which EM had lined up at time so it's influence unfortunately continues to be felt today as it partly lead to the last delay. This could have been a death blow to many start-up companies, and lawsuits and outside interference do indeed kill many start-ups, but instead the EM management team has actually show a lot of business skill in navigating through such a serious setback while keeping the company solvent and pushing things forward.

EM is not putting all their funding eggs in one basket but instead are actually doing the smart thing by having several fundraising avenues working in parallel. EM has also sought specialist expertise to assist with each one of these. The equipment sale is being managed by Comau, the government loan application was reviewed by an outside firm who specializes in such activity, and seeking private investment is being handled by a Wall Street broker dealer.

PE and his EM team have repeatedly shown that they do not expect to know everything but instead they frequently bring in experts in their respective areas to handle the important details. Outside experts are in fact designing the engine, working together to design the vehicle in an optimum fashion, supplying the parts and parts integration experience, designing the plant, and working on the various avenues of funding that EM needs.

I guess all the real-life experts working on this project should simply be shoved aside and instead this project should be run by the legion of random people on the internet who claim they can do a better job. Wait, that does not sound right either, maybe the best idea is simply to let the experts working on this project actually do their jobs and hope this project can succeed under their guidance. This discussion just makes me glad that Paul Elio does in fact take his business guidance from his board of experienced investors and business people and not from the internet.

I wonder if it is known in Schreveport how much harm the one Caddo Parish commissioner actions have caused.

 

[nthawk68]

I truly believe the Elio will be made, but if it does fail, they will change the name to Seahawk.

 

[tonyspumoni]

Tony, Why not just provide the appropriate URLs so that we can read the full text?
Also include notes on what you think is important. That way we can all look it up and decide for our selves.
After once spending 3-1/2 years in litigation I have learned that it is best to read everything and not trust anyone.
Not even your own attorneys who are admitted to practice before SCOTUS.

I will do that. Probably not today though.

 

[goofyone]

I wonder if it is known in Schreveport how much harm the one Caddo Parish commissioner actions have caused.

That is a very good question. I am not sure many people do realize just how much more difficult that one commissioner made the already difficult task of starting up a company like this for the Elio Motors team. I believe that a big part of the reason for people not realizing this is because EM has not drawn much attention to it as calling out a politician on a board which has direct control over a project is not generally an advisable thing to do.

 

[mag44]

If Elio had the money the commissioner would have not been in the picture.
It's all about who has the money. Elio didn't.

 

[Rickb]

That probably is a good idea even on this forum. It's better to talk about the positive Caddo Parrish Commission's support of EM. Without Caddo there would be no Elio Motors. Paul Elio was on the trail looking for manufacturing facilities for 2-3 years, and Caddo pulled through. One cannot expect a 100% vote of support from any political group.
As I recall, the Commissioner invovled was looking for a better contract deal with an established auto manufacturer and simply doing her job.

 

[goofyone]

Tony, Why not just provide the appropriate URLs so that we can read the full text?
Also include notes on what you think is important. That way we can all look it up and decide for our selves.
After once spending 3-1/2 years in litigation I have learned that it is best to read everything and not trust anyone.
Not even your own attorneys who are admitted to practice before SCOTUS.

This is the ATVM loan program web site where the important information and documents can be found:

http://energy.gov/lpo/services/atvm-loan-program

The key document from that site is the "Updated-Guidance-for-Applicants" as this document details how the DOE interprets the law as written and spells out what they are expecting to see from applicants:

http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/...r-Applicants-Final-Version-October-5-2012.pdf

There is also the ATVM loan overview which has some of the information from the Guidance in a condensed format however can also be confusing as it does leave out some key information which is found in the Guidance document:

http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/05/f16/ATVM-Program-Application-Overview.pdf

 

[goofyone]

That probably is a good idea even on this forum. It's better to talk about the positive Caddo Parrish Commission's support of EM. Without Caddo there would be no Elio Motors. Paul Elio was on the trail looking for manufacturing facilities for 2-3 years, and Caddo pulled through. One cannot expect a 100% vote of support from any political group.
As I recall, the Commissioner invovled was looking for a better contract deal with an established auto manufacturer and simply doing her job.

I do believe any intelligent person would indeed expect a commissioner to ask good questions and make good points about any concerns over funding and whether EM could succeed prior to the vote. I believe nobody really had an issue with the fact that she voted against the deal as most of us are realistic enough to expect that.

However after losing the vote she has actually crossed over the line by instigating an active campaign against the Elio Motors deal which began by costing the Caddo Parish taxpayers money having to defend against a lawsuit from a commissioner who was annoyed she lost a fair, and what proven in court to be a perfectly legal, commission vote. She also continues to this day to do what she can to hinder EM's progress via vocal opposition to the project including making public negative comments to the media and even on EM's Facebook page as recently as the last two weeks. This is in fact counter to her job as a commissioner as she is purposefully trying to sabotage an active deal which the Parish has in place which if it fails could further delay job creation and/or cost the taxpayers money. This of course should be the opposite of what she wants but she has proven she wants to be right more than she wants to create jobs or save the taxpayers money.