It's a bad week for Electrical startups. ElectricBrands, among others, which planned to build its Xbus at VDL, is bankrupt.
When one sheep crosses the dam, more will follow. But that doesn't mean that every now and then a sheep can't fall off the dam. Tesla has shown the world that making electric cars can be quite profitable. Something that was previously considered unthinkable. Logically, various parties are now trying to follow in Elon Musk's footsteps. Electric motors, cars, bicycles, lawn mowers, heavy machinery… It's all here now. But successfully marketing is clearly not always easy.
Faraday Future, VinFast, RIVIAN and a whole host of Chinese brands: they are trying, but whether it will work in many cases now seems almost unthinkable. And this week, once again, the hopes and dreams of both parties are being dashed. The Swedish company Cake, maker of electric motors, is bankrupt. But more relevant for the Netherlands and…autoblog…is that ElectricBrands is also bankrupt (again).
Well, 'ElectricBrands' sounds quite generic, so we forgive you if you've already forgotten it. After all, that applies to almost everyone, otherwise the brand might not be bankrupt now. Just a reminder: we wrote about ElectricBrands once before, because it was going to build its cars at VDL in Born. This involved an electric incarnation of the BMW Isetta (called Evetta) and/or the Xbus.
To our regret for the diligent workers of the Netherlands' only real car factory (at least, for mass production), this will most likely not happen. Unless ElectricBrands makes another bigger idiot finds a new investor to help the business rise from the ashes. However, given the stated reason for the bankruptcy (less interest from investors, financing problems, difficult economic situation), this seems extremely doubtful.
In itself a shame, because both the XBus and the Evetta had some promise of being a nice addition to the electric range. But yes, despite Musk's success, setting up a car brand is a bit like setting up an F1 team in the past. The best way to become a millionaire is to start as a billionaire. Softly, the ghost of the late John Z. Delorean whispers “take note.”
This article Electric battlefield: EV startups go bankrupt, VDL is disappointed first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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