Any ideas what the three numbers in the title of this post mean? Here they are again in order: 8139, 6467 and 2645. And there is one more number that you need to make sense of the first three: 50,114.
Give up? The General Services Administration bought 50,114 cars for the federal government in 2011, the last year for which there are full statistics. Of those cars, 2645 were either electric or hybrids (over 90% were hybrids). In 2009 to 2011, the number of hybrids and electric cars bought by the Obama administration fell; 8139 in 2009, 6467 in 2010 and only 2645 in 2011. Further, more than half of the hybrids/electrics bought in 2011 came from foreign manufacturers.
Upon taking office in 2009, Obama pledged that by 2015, the federal government would buy only alternative energy cars. That would include hybrids and electric cars. It was part of Obama's promise that the green energy industry would provide millions of new jobs for America. Indeed, Obama put nearly 100 billion dollars of taxpayer funds into green energy to subsidize the companies in that field. Many of them subsequently went bankrupt once the government funds ran out; Solyndra is the best known but hardly the only one of these. Basically that failure happened because the public did not buy the electric cars that were such a big part of the effort. Now we learn that even the Obama administration is not buying the electric cars.
As Obama himself might say, the electric car industry had to waste its fair share of federal funds. After all, it was only $100 billion.
Give up? The General Services Administration bought 50,114 cars for the federal government in 2011, the last year for which there are full statistics. Of those cars, 2645 were either electric or hybrids (over 90% were hybrids). In 2009 to 2011, the number of hybrids and electric cars bought by the Obama administration fell; 8139 in 2009, 6467 in 2010 and only 2645 in 2011. Further, more than half of the hybrids/electrics bought in 2011 came from foreign manufacturers.
Upon taking office in 2009, Obama pledged that by 2015, the federal government would buy only alternative energy cars. That would include hybrids and electric cars. It was part of Obama's promise that the green energy industry would provide millions of new jobs for America. Indeed, Obama put nearly 100 billion dollars of taxpayer funds into green energy to subsidize the companies in that field. Many of them subsequently went bankrupt once the government funds ran out; Solyndra is the best known but hardly the only one of these. Basically that failure happened because the public did not buy the electric cars that were such a big part of the effort. Now we learn that even the Obama administration is not buying the electric cars.
As Obama himself might say, the electric car industry had to waste its fair share of federal funds. After all, it was only $100 billion.
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