Electric buses cost 3 to 4 times what a regular diesel bus costs, but, we’ve been Reliably Told that they will save around $100K over the lifespan of the EBs. They have to run first
Seems like a good investment https://t.co/EUUkbxOrUC
— William Teach2 ??????? #refuseresist (@WTeach2) January 23, 2024
From the link
The city of Asheville, North Carolina, shelled out millions of dollars in 2018 to add five electric buses to its fleet. Now, three of the five sit idle, and city employees are telling the cautionary tale.
Asheville’s interim transportation director, Jessica Morriss, told local station WLOS-TV that the three out-of-commission buses are down due to a combination of software issues and mechanical problems, and one has had a broken door since July that can’t be replaced.
“We haven’t been able to get new doors,” Morriss told the outlet. “There’s no third party that makes a door. We’d have to get custom-made doors.”
Part of the issue is that the company that made the electric buses, Proterra, filed for bankruptcy in August. According to the News & Observer, Proterra’s operations are still shut down. The company was recently purchased by Phoenix Motor, but it is unclear when parts and services for Proterra buses will be available.
They can’t get a door. A door. Regular buses are fixed easy peasy, and you don’t have to deal with software problems.
In the meantime, Asheville is staring down losses from a major investment. Morriss told WLOS that each bus cost at least $616,000, and the city had to spend another $200,000 for the installation of each charger, another $118,000 every year to lease batteries for the buses, and nearly $45,500 annually in electric costs to charge them.
Wait, leasing batteries? Along with the cost of the buses, which are three times the average cost of a commuter bus.
She also noted that maintenance costs for the electric buses have topped $250,000. At the same time, having most of the electric buses out of operation has increased wear and tear on the rest of the 32 buses in the fleet, which either run on biodiesel or are hybrid models.
Yeah, maybe they should have just bought good old reliable diesel buses
Maintenance director John McDaniel also weighed in on the problems Asheville has had with its electric buses. He told WLOS that the two electric buses that are still in operation can only travel around 78 miles in the wintertime before needing to return to the shop and charge for hours.
What a fantastic investment.
Remember her?
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/26/jennifer-granholm-proterra-holdings-491007
#LGBFJB
TRUMP2024
I am guessing Ashville didn’t spend their own money on those buses. Federal grants likely played a role as they usually do when money is being spent with no accountability or proven results. But some people in and around Ashville put a lot of that money into their pockets. Politicians call that a win.
Yet another city/country is learning EVs “ain’t all they’re cracked up to be.”
The UK is finding a major downside to electric buses…as has Norway. This litany of failure is growing all the time, yet EV proponents are working hard to make those incidents disappear.
The deep freeze experienced throughout the Mid-West US has shown everyone that EVs really don’t do very well in sub-freezing temps. In some cases they can’t be charged in temperatures that low. You don’t see that with ICE vehicles.
DCE
Did you even bother to fact check your statement about Norway’s electric buses? Or did you just parrot something you read off a blog,?
In fact during the extreme cold weather in Odlo between 50 and 1p0 trips were cancelled out of 4000 per day.
Euronews.com
30/12/2023
Sophia Katsenkova
“Was Olo Paralyzed After All its Buses Broke Down Because of the Extreme Cold”
Again I caution all to be most skeptical of data that you WANT to believe.
In this case rightwing tabloids mostly UK posted click bait that they wanted their customers to read.
How many posters here will try to find an article to read that goes contrary to their own
ideology ?
The company that operates thode EV buses in Odlo days that they may install small diesel heaters and use them to keep the batteries warm on the very few days that might be needed
‘Twasn’t just Asheville! From The Philadelphia Inquirer:
That third quoted paragraph is the money line: all 25 Proterra have been parked since 2020, because they
were pieces of feceshad problems. A SEPTA spokeswoman confirmed that the fire’s origin was traced to lithium ion battery units inside the bus.Further down:
“(S)everal times more”? How many buses was SEPTA not able to purchase, because the agency had blown $24 million on buses that haven’t even been available for the last three years?
When I googled the cost of a new diesel city bus. It quoted a cost of close to 500000. Did anyone else check? Or was the lie price to good to check?
There are always problems with new technology. It should be expected as part of the learning curve. Expecting perfection leads to erroneous expectations.
Anyone else remember windows crashing or cell calls dropping 35 years ago?
We remember all of those things happening H. We are also quite aware that new technology has bugs that gotta get out of it. I’m also well aware that cracks and bus frames have absolutely nothing to do with electrical vehicles that’s faulty manufacturing.
We’re mature adults whether you believe it or not. just because we don’t agree with you on most things doesn’t mean we don’t have any brains, and it doesn’t mean that we always believe the first thing we come across.
We find you constantly pushing EV’s as hypocritical and misleading. Why? Because you have so far not purchased an EV. That’s first of all but there’s more
windows crashing in cell calls dropping it’s not a problem. You know why? Cause we weren’t being forced or LED into using these items 100% of the time by the government. If we got these items it was free choice!
You remember the concept of free choice don’t you? That was before the Democrats chose who was gonna be on ballots, before they forced us to buy the cars and the refrigerators and the stoves and the ovens that you want not that we want. When we could walk out on the street and smoke a cigarette or choose not to wear our seat belt when we were riding. You remember those days. Now some people died. And I know with any leftist on the face of the earth if one person is adversely affected everything is bad and has to be changed. That’s why they hate capitalism every time somebody tries something it initially fails and left us like you go batshit crazy. This time you’re accusing us but that’s not in our DNA. We don’t like EV’s because they’re being forced on us. We don’t like the cult of climatology because it’s been nothing but lies after lies and bad prediction after bad prediction. You guys never apologize you never admit you were wrong you just keep plowing along as though you’ve been right just since 1970. And you refuse to admit when you’re wrong which is frequently if not mostly.
EV’s in cold weather or hot weather are not good idea. You know that we know that and you know that we know that so why do you insist upon pushing EV’s on people in Alaska and Florida? When you make a EV law like that nonsense that crap in the pants Biden did where is gonna build chargers all across America how about you wait and see if we need chargers all across America? Did the government have to go out and build gas stations all across America when cars replace buggies? Of course not the free market did it. Why don’t you commie dogs sit back relax and let the free market take care of the EV situation. If it’s any good it’ll survive if it’s not it’ll go the way of buggy whips.
And just so you know you cultists are never gonna feed us bugs that’s DOA.
Electric busses, what a farce. As with most predictable failures, the electric bus was favored by democrats who always come up with good ideas someone else has to pay for. Next hairbrained scheme environmentalists dream up should be funded by union pension funds.
First, Proterra is/was not a major player in the transit bus market and is currently in bankruptcy, their stock was listed at $.07/share a few minutes ago. I’m not buying any. A questionable vendor for such a purchase by a city the size of Asheville. Not being a long term transit bus manufacturer, their limited experience in the specialized field should have been a red flag for purchasing a “cutting edge technology” vehicle. A garden variety diesel transit bus from a major manufacturer is around $550k, LNG or LPG diesels are a few grand more and excellent choices for municipal transit, if the necessary infrastructure is available. Electric busses are a couple hundred grand more and have a substantial infrastructure component additional. Probably not a great idea for a system the size of Asheville [one of my favorite small cities].
Spending other people’s money is easy and the fringe benefits are often good.
“Well, surprise, surprise, surprise!”
– Gomer Pyle
Now these nearly new but predictably useless hulks will sit forgotten and unrecyclable in some back lot next to several 30-year-old diesel or LNG busses that finally gave it up with 750,000 miles on them.
Can someone look through the minutes of old City Council meetings and dig up a few starry-eyed predictions of just how awesome the switch to electric busses was going to be?
We’re doomed.
I know of a few skoolie builders who could probably fabricate a new door from scratch for those busses…. 🙂 Maybe even convert them into no-longer-mobile homes for illegals. 🙂