Reminiscent of President Obama’s Solyndra debacle, an electric vehicle manufacturer in Chatsworth, to which Jerry Brown donated three million taxpayer dollars, has shut down operations and laid off 50 workers.
According to Stephen Frank at California Political Review, “our confused governor” should have known that Boulder Electric Vehicle, a Colorado based company, would expend just under 20% more in taxes in California than they would in other states. Moreover, the company would need to endure a multitude of environmental regulations associated with producing electric cars in the Golden State.
The San Fernando Valley Business Journal reported that Boulder Electric, founded in 2011, was developing delivery vans, flatbeds and service trucks with a range of 80 to 120 miles and a top speed of 70 mph for corporate customers and municipalities. Boulder Electric was one of eleven companies receiving state grants for the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program.
“We have essentially mothballed the company. We are not filing bankruptcy,” company Chief Executive Carter Brown told the Journal.
Another company biting the dust in California further dampens the already dismal job market in the state. According to an article in Newsmax in April, at least sixty companies left California for Texas, and in 2011 the Orange County Register identified 254 companies left California to do business in another state.