ECOtality files for Chapter 11; seeking approval to sell all assets
17 September 2013
EV charging solutions company ECOtality, Inc. and its US subsidiaries yesterday filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of Title 11 of the United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona, according to the company’s latest 8K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ECOtality and its subsidiaries intend to seek approval of the Bankruptcy Court of an auction and sale of substantially all of their assets under section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code.
The companies have proposed to jointly administer their Chapter 11 cases under the caption In re Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation, dba ECOtality North America, Case No. 2:13-bk-16126-RJH. All documents filed with the Bankruptcy Court are available for inspection at the Office of the Clerk of the Bankruptcy Court.
In connection with the filing, ECOtality and its subsidiaries entered into a Credit and Security Agreement with Nissan North America. Under the terms of the Credit Agreement and subject to approval of the Bankruptcy Court, Nissan will make available a delayed draw term loan in an amount up to $1,250,000. (Nissan was major partner in the EV Project with ECOtality.)
The borrowers will use the loan to (i) fund operations until the asset sale; (ii) to fund $27,000 for the operations of the stores and portable subsidiaries; and (iii) to pay certain administration costs necessary to maintain the corporate existence.
ECOtality previously executed several EV Pilot Program Master Agreements under which the it installed Level 2 chargers and DC Fast Chargers in connection with the EV Project with the Department of Energy. (Earlier post.) Under the terms of those agreements, the filing of a case under the Bankruptcy Code qualifies as a cause for termination of those agreements, under which ECOtality could be required to remove installed chargers at its own expense.
The DOE had awarded about $115 million to ECOtality, of which about $96 million has already been paid.
In August, ECOtality had notified the DOE that, even though it was continuing to pursue options for additional financing and was exploring other alternatives, in the event additional financing was not obtained,it might not be able to fulfill its operational obligations, including under the EV Project. In response, the DOE suspended all payments under the EV Project while it investigates the situation and determines whether the award should continue.
Another $100M US tax dollars wasted. Just part of $2.4B down the rat whole.
Kedo to Davemart in the earlier post for identifying the factors leading to failure.
Posted by: Kit P | 17 September 2013 at 12:51 PM
100 million tax payers each put in $1 for a chance at creating a new company with high paying jobs and a chance to expand exports.
The Pentagon spends $100 million on ONE jet fighter, which costs twice that for spare parts and repairs over its life. The U.S. spends more on military than the next TEN countries combined.
At $2 billion per day, the military spends about $100 million every hour each day 365 days per year.
Posted by: SJC | 17 September 2013 at 04:06 PM
Uh, that is not true at all. Ecotality managed to accomplish quite a bit despite their failure to remain solvent.
1. The EV Project (managed by Ecotality) on the whole has been very successful with 8200 participants.
2. Nearly 12,000 L2 J1772 charging stations have been installed (~8000 residential and nearly 4000 public) and nearly 100 CHAdeMO DCQCs have been installed.
The data collected by the EV Project remains available.
The charging stations installed through the EV Project remain available. The vast majority of of EV Project funded stations would not have been installed without EV Project funding.
So to say that $100M ($96M actually but who's counting) has been wasted and tossed down the rat hole is far from true.
Posted by: Dave R | 17 September 2013 at 04:09 PM
I guess that means Chargepoint has more room to grow.&nbps; I wonder if Chargepoint will operate Ecotality's network?
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 18 September 2013 at 08:24 AM
"100 million tax payers"
This does not include SJC who likely knows more about spending food stamps than paying taxes.
I support a strong national defense. Maybe SJC think that pilots and submariners providing the first line of defense should have second rate equipment.
I am not sure how providing charging stations for rich people not to use is a good use of tax dollars.
“far from true”
Looks true from what I see. Please tell me how many times they are used.
Posted by: Kit P | 18 September 2013 at 03:19 PM
And I support a enlightened US foreign policy which will make us far more secure than the billions wasted on useless weapons systems. They don't hate us because of our freedom but because the US sticks its stinking nose into every country's business. If they hated us because of our freedoms Switzerland would have been blown up long ago.
Posted by: Mannstein | 18 September 2013 at 04:46 PM