Electric vehicle manufacturers championed by Biden and his administration as the solution to fossil fuel emissions are losing money left and right.

Proterra, one such company that Biden and his officials mentioned repeatedly in their plans to get rid of gas cars in the next few decades, filed for bankruptcy Monday night.

The company, which makes electric buses for transit fleets, listed its assets and liabilities at $500 million to $1 billion, a sharp drop from the $1.6 billion valuation it had in 2021.

By Tuesday's closing bell, its stock was only worth 1/7 of Monday's value as the news was absorbed by investors and others.

A top prospect

Biden highlighted the company several times as one that was bringing progress in electric vehicles, and he virtually toured one of Proterra's facilities in 2021, when he claimed that he had been a bus driver decades earlier.

The administration also appointed the company's CEO, Gareth Joyce, to a top White House advisory council position earlier this year.

Joyce blamed "various market and macroeconomic headwinds" for the bankruptcy in a statement given to Fox News.

The statement said that the bankruptcy was for reorganization and that the company would continue to operate and pay all salaries during the process. It also professed continued faith in electric vehicles as the way the vehicle industry would move.

More difficult than thought

Still, the bankruptcy signals that conversion to electric vehicles may be less lucrative and more difficult than originally touted by the administration.

Problems with the vehicles include poor performance in extreme temperatures and when towing (in the case of trucks), limited distances between charges, and lack of charging stations in many areas.

Experts have also said that a rapid transition to electric vehicles would strain the power grid and lead to more frequent blackouts and brownouts unless costly upgrades to current electric grids were undertaken.

Despite these serious concerns, the Biden administration continues to push the idea of ending gasoline vehicle manufacture by 2030 and going to all-electric vehicles.

Ford also losing on electric cars

Ford reported last week that it too has lost money on electric vehicle development and is forecasting a $4.5 billion loss in that division this year due to slower adoption than had been expected.

That's a drop in the bucket for Ford, which had $45 billion in profits just last quarter, but adds to the narrative that people don't want electric cars as much as the government wants them to.