A Dim Ray of Hope Emerges for Cities Who Stupidly Invested in EV Bus Fleets DAVID BLACKMON
EV bus maker Proterra was supposed to become one of the crown jewels of the Biden Green New Deal policy suite
A Dim Ray of Hope Emerges for Cities Who Stupidly Invested in EV Bus Fleets
EV bus maker Proterra was supposed to become one of the crown jewels of the Biden Green New Deal policy suite, given that it was the nation’s pre-eminent manufacturer of battery electric buses purchased by dimwitted virtue-signaling local officials all over the country.
But last summer, Proterra became mired in bankruptcy proceedings, leaving these officials to try to explain to their voters why the buses they bought for as much as $1.2 million each currently sit idle and broken down in garages around their cities.
In Asheville NC, as I wrote here last week, 3 of 5 costly EV buses sit idle and in disrepair due to a variety of software and hardware issues, with no reactivation in sight since the parts and software fixes would have to be supplied by the bankrupt busmaker.
A similar situation has emerged in Colorado Springs, where 2 of 4 EV buses bought in 2021 with the help of federal subsidies have sat nonfunctional for months. A similar situation cropped up in Philadelphia, where the Philadelphia Tribute reported SEPTA’s entire $24 million fleet of Proterra buses were pulled from service in 2020.
In Southern California, the Daily Bulletin reports that EV buses bought with federal subsidies by an array of local transport agencies had been pulled from service due to a variety of malfunctions and equipment failures. Impacted communities include West Covina, Los Angeles and regional agencies in the San Joaquin and Pomona valleys.
KUT News out of Austin, Texas reported in December that the city’s Capital Metro transportation authority had entered into a $46 million 2020 deal with Proterra to buy 40 of its buses. But as of December, only six of them were in operation while 17 more had been built were sitting in Proterra’s South Carolina factory because chargers for them are not yet available.
KUT also reported this:
Broward County bought 42 buses from Proterra for $54 million. Most were the 40-foot ZX5 buses, the same model CapMetro uses.
Attorneys representing Broward County, Florida say the first batch of Proterra's electric buses averaged 600 miles between failures. The second batch improved that average to 1,800 miles. But that was still far behind the county's aging fleet of diesel buses, which travel an average of 4,500 miles between failures.
"On average, half of the first lot of Proterra buses and about one-third of the second lot are out of service at any given time," Broward County Attorney Andrew J. Meyers wrote in a filing.
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Then, there was last October’s story out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. There, gullible city officials had agreed to purchase a fleet of 8 EV buses from Proterra in 2021 using federal subsidies to discount their cost. But as of last summer, exactly ZERO of the 8 buses were in working condition, and it had become impossible to source needed parts thanks to Proterra’s bankruptcy filing.
Fox News reports that Proterra has now been purchased by another company, Phoenix Motor Cars. A spokesman for the company is now making promises to remedy these and other situations and try to restore public trust in the EV bus model. That will be a tall order, obviously.
Here’s an excerpt from the Fox story:
Jose Paul, Phoenix Motorcars' chief revenue officer, told FOX Business in an interview that the company has taken ownership of "really world-class technology" in its acquisition of Proterra.
He noted that EVs, like any new technology, have issues but are continuing to evolve and advance. When Henry Ford rolled out the Model T, it was not perfect, Paul pointed out, and says Proterra's buses have continued to improve with each generation.
Paul acknowledged that some customers, like the city of Asheville, have had challenges with operating Proterra buses, particularly due to the inability to obtain parts since the bankruptcy. He said one of the first things Phoenix Motorcars plans to do is to focus on restocking spare parts to make them available, explaining that some suppliers refused to sell to Proterra while it was under bankruptcy protection.
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You have to love the final two sentences in this Fox story:
Paul said Phoenix's hope is that a lot of the issues customers have faced due to Proterra's bankruptcy will be handled within the next six to nine months.
He emphasized, "Our goal is to take care of customers…every single customer."
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Why do I have the feeling that, 9 months from now, I will be writing another story here detailing the fact that almost none of these issues with this “world class technology” have been fully corrected?
Anyone care to take bets?
That is all.
Thanks for reminding me, Dennis.
The city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada purchased 60 Proterra buses in 2020. Three years later most of them are off the road in need of repair and the city is suing Proterra. In a court filing, the city's U.S. lawyers wrote that Edmonton's electric buses have failed to meet contract qualifications with respect to range, battery life, reliability and durability.