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.
Maybe they should replace them with trains. Trains cost more, providing more tax dollars for graft.
You must not judge Lefties by the RESULTS of their actions.
It’s their INTENTIONS that matter, and their intentions are GOOOOOOOOD.
lolz. liberal Ashville.
Their first mistake. Why not Tesla? Or Mercedes?
Ship them to LA for the homeless to live in.
Ashville polticians who voted for the garbage should be required to pull rickshaws at the minimum wage rate until the $3M in value is delivered to residents.
The article didn’t say who manufactured the buses. I wouldn’t do business with that company again. It appears that the buses didn’t come with much of a warranty.
I’d say also that Asheville should have bought only one bus to start with. But it’s only tax dollars that are being spent.
Someone, somewhere received a sweeeeeet kickback.
It’s no secret that one has to buy 2 COPIES of any Electric Vehicle they’re interested in, one to use and the other for parts, because, apparently, supplying spare parts to owners of EVs is something that simply IS NOT DONE by EV companies (particularly Tesla, as Hertz learned the hard way, and the same story all around the country for buses).
Don’t really know why the EV companies seem to HATE the people who buy their products, but it certainly seems to be the case.
"Proterra, the manufacturer, has since filed for bankruptcy.”
You are correct. They follow Kant. Summarized here by chat gpt. Immanuel Kant’s philosophy, known as Kantianism, emphasizes the importance of reason and moral duty. He argued for the autonomy of moral agents, stating that individuals should act according to principles derived from rationality, rather than mere consequences. Kant’s categorical imperative, a central concept, encourages people to act in ways that could be universally applied without contradiction. His ideas had a significant impact on ethics and epistemology. Love that phrase “mere consequences”.
Ah, my neighbors.
Not a fan of EV’s but a door could easily be replaced with a chain and hook. $15?
And here in San Diego, the buses get their own dedicated lane on the interstate. So while traffic is backed up for miles, the bus lane is wide open. But don't you dare drive in it! It's a $450 minimum fine if you get caught.
I freakin' hate city buses. Get rid of all of them. This is America. Buy a car.
Did you read the article??
It actually says the name of the mfg and that the company went bankrupt
A sucker and his money...
The key to graft is to make the whole number as big as possible. That way small percentages are big numbers to the grifter and almost unnoticed by anyone who cares to take the over sight role.
A friend had a favorite expression when purchasing hardware:
Get two; one to use and one to loose. Three’s better in case it works.
At least they feel good about themselves.
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