Posted on 02/12/2024 5:24:39 PM PST by lowbridge
Porterville Unified school buses are getting quieter.
That's because they're slowly shifting away from diesel and moving to electric.
Assistant superintendent Brad Rohrbach says that transition is now accelerating thanks to a $13.8 million award from the Environmental Protection Agency's 'Clean School Bus Program'.
"It's really the next step in our endeavor to sustain and move forward on our sustainability and energy efforts at the district," Rohrbach said.
Director of Transportation and Sustainability Richard Tree says the 35 electric buses they will purchase with the money will help reduce the district's carbon footprint and create a model for others in the Central Valley.
"It gives us the ability to really put this new technology into service and allow other school districts to come check it out," Tree said.
The money will be used along with $14 million leveraged from state and local partners to purchase and install 40 electric charging stations, and a microgrid that has an energy storage system.
There will also be 30 paid internships for students who will get the opportunity to oversee the entire project, work with contractors and engage with the community about the changes.
"They'll have first-hand experience, be able to work with our industry partners from start to finish," Tree said.
Once the electric buses arrive, the diesel buses will be dismantled and parts will be recycled.
(Excerpt) Read more at abc30.com ...
HOPEFULLY they’ll also get rid of their Diesel Buses, so the kids there can FINALLY learn to get to school the way virtually all of us here did, in our day (either walking or taking their bicycles).
They will not be able to afford the maintenance and in ten years they will have bricks.
Here’s yet another story where in 2 years, we’ll read about 38 buses sitting in a parking lot somewhere with no spare parts, the manufacturer out of business, and the interns complaining about losing school credits for the program that went kablooey.
Porterville is in the middle of almost-nowhere.
$14 Million Dollars is enough to have every student in the district picked up and brought home by an Uber for 12 years, their entire education...
“Once the electric buses arrive, the diesel buses will be dismantled and parts will be recycled.”
Great plan! What happens when all the electric busses fail like they have in so many other places? Will the convert their bus route maps to walking maps?
AND all the old diesel busses were torn apart and sold off.
This proves yet again all the best and brightest minds go into government.
Is this to handle the power blackouts I read about in California?
I predict within one year the program will be close to folding with no avenue for recovery because they destroyed what was capable, the diesel buses.
Time will tell.
If your math is correct, it points out the utter stupidity of the program.
“”Porterville is in the middle of almost-nowhere.””
That’s for sure... Money is plentiful thanks to government agencies but there is a shortage of brains also thanks to government agencies.
My husband used to fly a client there and he’d bring back grapefruit????? The client went for business but somehow they also came back with grapefruit? It doesn’t sound right but I know it was some kind of fruit - going back many years - 80’s..I know, I know - “CA land of fruit and nuts.”
I only recall it because whatever it was, it was good!! We were living in OC with plenty of oranges so I know it wasn’t oranges.
As I recall, they had to beg to get some diesel buses back.
There will also be 30 paid internships for students who will get the opportunity to oversee the entire project..
A great opportunity for DEI students to become immersed in government "make work" for those unable to engage in real work.
From NY Post 8/24 article:
Bay Area-based electric bus and battery maker Proterra filed for Chapter 11, with CEO Gareth Joyce citing “various market and macroeconomic headwinds that have impacted our ability to efficiently scale.”
The EV firm, which sold more than 1,300 electric buses to public transit systems in the US and Canada, was valued at $1.6 billion when Biden, 80, took office in January 2021 — but closed with a market value of $362 million, according to Reuters.
Two years, more than half of the buses will be dead.
Every one of them will be decommissioned within six months.
“Once the electric buses arrive, the diesel buses will be dismantled and parts will be recycled.”
= = =
The critical parts will be removed.
Like the singular critical part you take off an artillery gun when you have to abandon it.
Maybe I should offer to buy the busses (whole), and then store them and wait . . . and offer private bussing service in a few short years.
Then the government will demand that the tooling needed to make that part be destroyed. Just like the F-22.
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