Obama visited the Ener1 battery factory in 2011 — one month later the primary customer (Think EV) filed bankruptcy, and six months after that Ener1 filed Chapter 11 with $118M in DOE loans
Distressed acquisition below last-round valuation · Fatal mistake: Ener1 built lithium-ion batteries for EVs through subsidiary EnerDel. $118M DOE loan guarantee. Primary customer: Think (Norwegian EV maker). Think filed for bankruptcy June 2011. Ener1 lost its primary customer. Already losing $150M annually. Filed Chapter 11 January 26, 2012. Obama had visited the Ener1/EnerDel factory in 2011. Congressional criticism of another DOE cleantech failure after Solyndra.
Evaluating only Ener1’s profile at its peak — without knowing the outcome — the model ranked Unit economics as the #1 likely cause. Documented cause: Distribution.
Key Events Timeline
FOUNDING
MILESTONE
CRISIS
SHUTDOWN
Full Analysis
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Documented cause
Ener1 had $118M DOE loan. Primary customer Think EV bankrupt June 2011. Already losing $150M/year. Chapter 11 January 2012 — 6 months after customer bankruptcy.
Lesson
“DOE battery investments must require 3+ OEM customer letters of intent before loan guarantee execution — single-customer battery suppliers are structurally unstable regardless of technology quality.”
Failure anatomy
Collapse type
Fire Sale
📉 MEDIUM
Hype cycle
Peak
Moat type
Technology
Fatal mistake
Ener1 built lithium-ion batteries for EVs through subsidiary EnerDel. $118M DOE loan guarantee. Primary customer: Think (Norwegian EV maker). Think filed for bankruptcy June 2011. Ener1 lost its primary customer. Already losing $150M annually. Filed Chapter 11 January 26, 2012. Obama had visited the Ener1/EnerDel factory in 2011. Congressional criticism of another DOE cleantech failure after Solyndra.