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Philadelphia's electric bus fleet has disappeared
Hot Air ^ | July 17,2021 | JAZZ SHAW

Posted on 07/17/2021 7:38:43 PM PDT by Hojczyk

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is one of the deep-blue cities that’s been priding itself in leading the charge against climate change for years now. Back in 2016, they decided to establish a position as an early adopter of electric vehicle technology on a large scale to reduce their carbon footprint.

The city purchased 25 electric buses from a company called Protera at a staggering price tag of nearly one million dollars apiece and put them into operation. But barely four years later, every one of the buses had been pulled from service and is deemed unusable. What went so horribly wrong to produce such a result? As the Free Beacon reports this week, just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

More than two dozen electric Proterra buses first unveiled by the city of Philadelphia in 2016 are already out of operation, according to a WHYY investigation.

The entire fleet of Proterra buses was removed from the roads by SEPTA, the city’s transit authority, in February 2020 due to both structural and logistical problems—the weight of the powerful battery was cracking the vehicles’ chassis, and the battery life was insufficient for the city’s bus routes. The city raised the issues with Proterra, which failed to adequately address the city’s concerns.

The city paid $24 million for the 25 new Proterra buses, subsidized in part by a $2.6 million federal grant.

(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: automotive; electric; jennifergranholm; pennsylvania; philadelphia; proterra; scam; septa; septic
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To: Paladin2
Electric trolleybuses (ETB), sometimes referred to as trackless trolleys, run off dual wire catenary. They still run in Vancouver (BC), Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston and Hamilton (ON). They may still run in Dayton (OH).

ETB networks in Edmonton (AB) and Toronto (ON) were liquidated some years ago and replaced with diesel buses.

41 posted on 07/17/2021 8:38:32 PM PDT by Publius
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To: Hojczyk

“Access to inexpensive hydrogen fuel remains a significant challenge for transit agencies deploying FCEBs[fuel-cell electric buses]”

https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/40395


42 posted on 07/17/2021 8:42:36 PM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Hojczyk
do I really have to say it???

43 posted on 07/17/2021 8:42:52 PM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. P144:1)
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To: exDemMom

Those are the Muni Buses, right? Big plastic windows and little green seats. A lot of folks still depend on them.
I was without a car for a long time in the early 1990’s, so I would take them once in a while. Art Agnos was Mayor. I found it easier to just take BART Trains. Less people begging on the trains, at least back then.


44 posted on 07/17/2021 8:44:58 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: Bernard
Did any of them catch fire while charging? Now that would be a Volt to remember.

Watt are you talking about...maybe Amp up the conversation.

45 posted on 07/17/2021 8:49:21 PM PDT by spokeshave (White Confederate statue kills black man......Another month of protests.... (HT to seawolf101))
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To: Deaf Smith

But Big Gov LOVES
Electric because they
Can Shut It Down in a
Heartbeat.


46 posted on 07/17/2021 8:54:42 PM PDT by Big Red Badger (Be Still and Know that I Am God. Rev 19)
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To: Hojczyk

You can buy one for $19.99 on ebay! Search term - Junk electric buses


47 posted on 07/17/2021 9:18:10 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: Paladin2

There are still trolleybus routes in both Boston and Philadelphia.


48 posted on 07/17/2021 9:18:53 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Ronald77

Philadelphia still has a number of those too. Routes 10, 11, 13, 15, 34 and 36 from the former Philadelphia Transit Company, and routes 101 and 102 from the former Red Arrow Lines. Route 23 still has the tracks, but has been run as a bus since the 1990s; route 56 was supposed to have been restored to a trolley, but the city backpedaled on that.


49 posted on 07/17/2021 9:22:39 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Hojczyk

Purchased in 2016. This was during 44’s green initiative cronyism I’m surprised there were even buses to account for the 26 million spent. But it doesn’t surprise me they failed in maintaining the buses. I’m curious who in the 44 Admin knew at Protera.

Oh and here is a transcript of Jack Allen, CEO of Protera (March 2021) going before congress and pitching the acceleration of zero emissions vehicles. Maybe congress should be reminded of what’s going on in Philli

https://transportation.house.gov/imo/media/doc/Allen%20Testimony2.pdf


50 posted on 07/17/2021 9:24:12 PM PDT by HollyB
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To: Paladin2
The Boston area had electric buses that ran off an overhead catenary.

Not very far removed from trolley cars?

51 posted on 07/17/2021 9:30:49 PM PDT by immadashell (New Planned Parenthood slogan: Black Babies’ Lives Don't Matter!c)
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To: immadashell

No, they just need a second wire for a ground and they do have a bit of lateral mobility to go between the curb to pick-up/discharge passengers and being the lane of traffic and having more flexibility in transiting intersections.


52 posted on 07/17/2021 9:35:40 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Critical Marx Theory is The SOLUTION....)
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To: immadashell

No, they just need a second wire for a ground and they do have a bit of lateral mobility to go between the curb to pick-up/discharge passengers and being in the lane of traffic and having more flexibility in transiting intersections.


53 posted on 07/17/2021 9:36:23 PM PDT by Paladin2 (Critical Marx Theory is The SOLUTION....)
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To: Hojczyk

About three years ago, we went to China to visit my wife’s family. There was an electric vehicle graveyard in Beijing that probably covered about 20 acres. There was row after row of electric busses that were being cut up for scrap. There was piles of charging stations that were being busted up to recover the metal. They didn’t look very old.
I guess that the Chi-Coms figured out that electric vehicles aren’t worth it.


54 posted on 07/17/2021 9:46:55 PM PDT by wjcsux (RIP Rush Limbaugh 12 Jan 1951- 17 Feb 2021. We really miss you. 😢)
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To: PeterPrinciple
No one saw that coming?

Philadelphia city streets have become an obstacle course since prancing Jim Kenney took over. Have had to have parts replaced in my front suspension and have lost tires. It's pathetic that I am nostalgic about the days of Michael Nutter.

55 posted on 07/17/2021 9:50:14 PM PDT by Stentor ( )
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To: Born to Conserve
Philadelphia is run by the residents.

Not going to argue your point, but what is the excuse for the white idiots in the city who helped reelect Krasner. The city is overrun by young white morons. They've even infected South Philly.

56 posted on 07/17/2021 9:55:03 PM PDT by Stentor ( )
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To: Hojczyk

Let me take a wild guess... They found out the same thing I found out about “rechargeable batteries”, after a little while it takes longer to charge them and they don’t last as long. Duh?


57 posted on 07/17/2021 9:58:20 PM PDT by The Right Edge (Staunch Trump Supporter AND PROUD to be!)
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To: 2banana
Literally, SEPTA could have provided limousine services to every single passenger and it would have been cheaper.

Next time you pass a full-size city bus, make a mental note of how many people you see inside. I rarely see more than a half dozen or so at any given time. They could save money practically using mini-vans, or those small shuttle buses that the casinos and airports use. Public transportation is such a racket.

58 posted on 07/17/2021 9:59:51 PM PDT by Gena Bukin (I'm a dude. Gena Bukin is the Russian Al Bundy. Google it.)
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To: Rebelbase

Great question. What about the union bosses?


59 posted on 07/17/2021 10:13:36 PM PDT by wac3rd (Somewhere in Hell, Ted Kennedy snickers....)
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To: alstewartfan

We used to have them. They were called street cars and worked very well. They were great to ride on.


60 posted on 07/17/2021 10:20:04 PM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789! )
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