Posted on 01/21/2024 10:18:27 AM PST by george76
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The city of Asheville's purchase of five electric buses in 2018 has turned into a multi-million-dollar loss. The buses have been broken or unable to run because of software and/or mechanical issues, making them an expensive and disappointing purchase, according to city maintenance and transportation staff.
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Currently, three of the five buses are idled, with one that has had a broken double door since July.
“We haven’t been able to get new doors,” Asheville's interim transportation director Jessica Morriss said. “There's no third party that makes a door. We'd have to get custom-made doors.”
Each of the buses cost the city $616,796-plus. Morriss said additional costs included more than $200,000 for the infrastructure for each charger, $118,000 annually for the contract to lease batteries for the buses and $45,481 for annual electric charges.
“I think if you added that altogether, I think, probably $900,000 to $1 million is what each one cost. And, since then, we've had to invest additional money into maintaining them and fixing them," Morriss said.
Morriss said maintenance costs have been an additional $251,000, which includes replacing the traction drive controls, or electric motors, for all of the buses.
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Maintenance director John McDaniel said several of the buses also had to have their power inverters replaced at $14,000 each.
“The last couple of years have been particularly difficult,” Morriss said. “We don’t see an end in sight. Proterra, the manufacturer, has since filed for bankruptcy.”
She said it’s impossible to get parts for the idled buses.
“Since June 2023, we have had numerous issues with vehicles out of service for weeks and months," Morriss said.
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Of the two buses that are running, the other big issue is the limited distance they can go, which in winter is about 78 miles. McDaniel said that’s about three trips to the airport. Then, the bus has to come back and charge at the garage on West Haywood Street for hours, he said.
Another issue is the buses get cold overnight and it eats into a large part of the charge to heat them before they leave the garage.
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Morris said the downed electric buses have also put a strain on the city's operating fleet of 32 buses. She said those buses -- a combination of biodiesel and hybrids -- are being run more because the electric buses have been down so often.
“There's some lessons here for sure. We're pressing pause on investing in any electric technology until we can assure the products we get are going to be able to work," Morris said.
I think I see the problem here. Asheville needs to buy more electric buses. After all, there is strength in numbers. Or something like that.
Now where do I go to collect my Nobel Prize in Economics? I’ve already got a space on my shelf picked out for it, right next to my Groucho Marx bobble head.
Volvo Group, which mainly provides large vehicles, construction equipment and power solutions across various industries, won an auction for the business and assets of Proterra Inc and Proterra Operating Company Inc for US$210 million.Nov 15, 2023
“The last couple of years have been particularly difficult,” Morriss said. “We don’t see an end in sight. Proterra, the manufacturer, has since filed for bankruptcy.”
“There’s some lessons here for sure.
But I am not sure they will learn the right lesson. It is only a “pause”
Proterra...
Founded in 2004, it became a public company in June 2021. The company delivered 199 new transit buses and battery systems for 1,229 vehicles in 2022. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2023. In November, its assets were auctioned to three companies.
I am ashamed to admit I did not get it from Kant.
I got it from Rush Limbaugh.
Any one of us here could have told them what to expect. Instead they spent 1 million per bus. Obviously they don’t care, because its NOT THEIR money!
Virtue signaling has proven to be very expensive (in addition to very, very inconvenient at times).
Tow them to Obama’s house
Proterra was bought by Phoenix Motors, Inc also based on California.
Phoenix Motors, Inc has only been around since June 2022 and its stock PEV has lost 75% since then.
If they are going to buy EVs you would think they should get them from a Company that also sells gas powered vehicles to offset any EV losses and is more diversified. Buying from an exclusive EV Company can be risky.
So, they have 3 busses down for maintenance. 1 of them for a broken door since July. Government geniuses can’t take a door off of one of the other broken busses?
Yep, they need to bite the bullet and designate one bus to be for parts. Cannibalize it to keep the other two running.
Or, just cut to the chase and scrap them all.
Housing for Illegals
> “We haven’t been able to get new doors,”
Scan the broken parts and have them 3D printed. Total cost including eliminated downtime is probably cheaper than new replacement doors.
Perhaps the cities should return to the electric bus on rails of 120 years ago.
Turn them into homeless shelters.
Put all of these "good ideas" turned to boondoggles into an aggregate and ---
Debt ClockFederal Budget Deficit Grew to $2 Trillion in FY 2023 Tax Foundation, 12 October 2023
“The city of Asheville’s purchase of five electric buses in 2018 has turned into a multi-million-dollar loss.”
That’s OK. The people who sold the buses to the city got their money. That’s what’s important.
Several on this thread have mentioned transitioning the dead busses to homeless housing. In the spirit of the Hussein/Biden Regime grifters, repaint the dead busses with large rainbows, install one or two porta potties, and sell them to Kalifornia for millions more than you paid. The Kalifornia Newsom/Pelousy Regime will get their 10% in the deal, and the rainbows will be touted all over the Drive-By Media.
The Green Scam eats up more money and creates GARBAGE
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