Electric bus. (Photo: energy.ca.gov)
California Based Electric Bus Company Proterra Stuns With Bankruptcy Filing
Too many government subsidies and not enough free market investment?
By Katy Grimes, August 16, 2023 2:55 am
The Washington Post recently reported that California-based Proterra, the electric bus company filed for bankruptcy last week. This is like a flashback to Solyndra, a solar panel start-up and recipient federal funds from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Solyndra blew $570 million taxpayer dollars before it folded.
“Solar panel start-up Solyndra was the first company to get government-backed loans from ARRA after its passage, collecting $535 million and receiving a $25 million tax break from California’s agency for alternative energy,” Forbes reported.
From a review of documents via a well placed source, the Globe has learned:
California-based Proterra has voluntarily filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the District of Delaware. Chapter 11 is a business reorganization.
Henrik Alex, a trader, expected Proterra’s default sooner than August: “While I expected the company to default on its convertible debt back in March already, Proterra actually managed to amend covenants and extend the maturity date of the notes shortly after my article was published.”
Apparently so did the U.S. Energy Secretary according to media reports. Politico reported:
“Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm sold her holdings in electric bus maker Proterra this week, DOE confirmed to POLITICO on Wednesday, following criticism from Republicans that she might be profiting from the administration’s push for electric vehicles.”
“Granholm cleared all of her Proterra holdings in the sales on Monday [May 22, 2023], providing her with net capital gains of $1.6 million.”
Proterra received a lot of grants and tax credits
In 2015, Proterra received a $3 million state grant to build a factory.
In 2017, Proterra was awarded a California Competes tax credit worth $7.5 million ($4.5m was later recaptured because the company defaulted on the agreement).
In 2020, Proterra received a $10 million PPP loan that was later forgiven.
In 2018, Proterra contributed more than $10,000 to groups opposing the repeal of the gas tax increase.
The CEO has contributed $2,750 to Democrat state candidates Josh Becker, former Senator Kevin de Leon, and Sen. Henry Stern:
So far this year, Proterra has spent more than $36,000 on state-level lobbying:
In 2021-22, Proterra spent more than $300,000 on state level lobbying:
Proterra also lobbied the Biden Administration ahead of the President’s visit to Proterra’s plant. The Washington Free Beacon reported:
Weeks before President Joe Biden boosted Proterra with an official tour of its plant, the electric battery company hired a pair of Obama administration alums to lobby the White House for funding, amplifying its already concerning political connections to the Biden administration.
According to disclosure forms filed in 2021, the politically connected electric bus manufacturer brought on lobbying firm Boundary Stone Partners on April 1 to push the administration for increased funding of clean energy infrastructure projects, including the “electrification” of mass transportation vehicles. The two lobbyists registered to Proterra, Pete Gould and Christine Turner, both worked in the top echelons of the Obama administration—Gould was associate director of government affairs for the Department of Transportation, and Turner held numerous trade-related positions throughout the administration, including on the White House National Security Council.
Just 19 days after the firm was brought on, Biden and his top economic adviser Brian Deese toured Proterra and pledged that the administration’s infrastructure plan would direct money to the company.
- In 2019-20, Proterra spent more than $280,000 on state-level lobbying:
- In 2017-18, Proterra spent $256,000 on state-level lobbying:
The Globe has been told California Strategies & Advocacy lobbied on behalf of Proterra in the State Capitol and state agencies.
“I think they should give all of the money back,” Former Ambassador to Germany and Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell told the Globe. “I think every single politician who received money should give every cent back.”
And because the US Energy Secretary invested in Proterra, and they had a number of federal contracts, there may interest on the federal level to investigate. The Globe isn’t holding its breath that the California Attorney General will investigate.
It will be interesting to see who they contributed to within 90 days of the bankruptcy filing as the court will usually claw back monies spent during that time period.
Looking at their list of creditors, they owe the following agencies – We are betting at least one of them is going to want answers:
California Air Resources Board
California Attorney General
CA Board of Equalization
CA DMV
CA Department of Tax and Fee Administration
CA Energy Commission
CA Franchise Tax Board
CA State Board of Equalization
CA State Controller’s Office
University of California, San Diego
University of California, Irvine
Secretary of State of California
California Department of General Services
Since Proterra filed a Chapter 11 business reorganization, they could be saved by private investors if their infrastructure is decent – but I’m not holding my breath – too many government subsidies and not enough free market interest I am deducing.
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GREAT REPORTING!!!
THANK YOU for naming names, and shaming those that NEED to be shamed, and exposing the cockroaches in our collective political kitchen…
I agree —– this is an epic exposure.
It also serves as an example of the sort of unacceptable nonsense that no doubt routinely goes on in Sacramento.
Solyndra 2.0. California has too much tax payer money laying around being shoveled into the pockets of cronies. In the olden days the FBI investigated things like this, but persecution 80 million US Catholics gets less political blowback.
Any company receiving government subsidies should be barred from lobbying and political contributions.
Katy Grimes is an extremely valuable asset to Californians. This is the kind of detail that investigative journalists used to do. I remember when 60 Minutes was a must see each week (Sunday I think) because of the revealing stories with researched details like this one about Proterra. I try to spread the word about California Globe and Katy Grimes whenever I can. Thank you Katy for publishing REAL news!
Katy and California Globe have done it again! While The Globe probably won’t win a Pulitzer Prize any time soon, Katy and the other writers for California Globe are winners to us regular readers by providing us with news and information that can’t be found elsewhere. It sounds like Proterra was more of a money laundering scheme for Democrats rather than an electric bus company?
Not surprising in the least. These green industries are money laundering operations where our tax money goes to private companies that then kick back a significant part of it to politicians. Private investors want nothing to do with companies that have a business model of losing money, only leftists think that is a winning strategy.
I promise the amount of money they spent on lobbying in CA is a fraction of what they spent lobbying nationally. There are so many Proterra customers/transit properties that had no say in ordering Proterra buses but rather from following edicts from local/state and even federal leaders. For every sales rep or manufacturing job they had, they had probably twice as many lobbyists.
Shocked by the news of Proterra’s bankruptcy. 🚌 This is a reminder that even cutting-edge companies can face financial difficulties. In these unpredictable times, fast and reliable payment systems can be the key to business survival. Think back to the PIX system in Brazil, which allows companies manage your funds easily and quickly: https://www.publicitarioscriativos.com/bingo-online-com-pix-jogo-de-bingo-que-paga-via-pix/ I hope other businesses will adopt this innovation.
But this is not a “business,” it’s an entity propped up with taxpayer dollars appearing in a number of different disguised forms whose product has been force-fed to a public that has not demanded it. For this reason, such dicey taxpayer entities and the unneeded products they produce are never sustainable economically because they suck up taxpayer money but can’t replace the loss with money the product has made on its own.
SPAM? Really?
Oh, was it SPAM, CW? I didn’t click on the link, just read the other stuff. Looking at it again I see it says “Bingo online.” Beware, readers. Sigh
This company was nothing more than yet another front for money laundering – of our tax dollars. The biggest such operation to be uncovered so far was FTX. In that one, money went to Ukraine. Ukrainian officials took their cut, buying real estate in Switzerland with it for the most part. A little went to weapons, and the rest was ‘invested’ in FTX, who then turned around and donated that money to Democrat campaigns. Solyndra was the same sort of operation. It’s likely there are a few dozen of these operations still active. We aren’t going to vote our way out of such extensive corruption.