$5 million loss for Asheville as flawed electric buses sit idle

[Timber Rattler]

https://wlos.com/amp/news/alexa/5-million-loss-for-asheville-as-flawed-electric-buses-sit-idle-interim-transportation-director-jessica-morriss-maintenance-director-john-mcdaniel-proterra?fbclid=IwAR1oxbcy4YjHy32AfgePM8pkM1N0GIS6C3U52T9p8hqMq0iMKB5rnuwcar4

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The city has purchased nine biodiesel and five hybrid buses since the five electric buses were purchased in 2018. Morris said the transportation department plans to ask Asheville City Council to approve the purchase of two more biodiesel buses this spring at an approximate cost of $550,000 each.

DOH!

[Smokin Joe]

Keeping in mind that this is North Carolina, not North Dakota, It' s just that much more obvious that electrics are not ready for prime time in winter here.

[Hoodat]

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.

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.

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.

So in other words, what you are saying is that Conservatives were right all along, and you could have saved yourselves $5 million if you had listened to them.

[DB]

Municiple governments have no business spending large sums of money on experimental technology. They owe the taxpayer the best long term bang for the buck.

[roamer_1]

Municiple governments have no business spending large sums of money on experimental technology. They owe the taxpayer the best long term bang for the buck.

Don't worry... It was probably covered by federal grants... 

[mountaineer]

A local bus company that has some school contracts recently had electric buses foisted upon it. Apparently, the gubmint gave them to the school district, so they were passed on to the bus company. A guy I know whose father was one of the co-founders of the bus company told me they don't know what to do with them. Their mechanics are not trained in EV repair, and there's no charging station at the bus garage, anyway. Right now, there's 8"+ snow on the ground, temperature around 20, and these buses will be expected to go out on the hilly, winding, rural roads of the district to pick up kiddies on Monday. Good luck.

[Hoodat]

Each of the buses cost the city  .  .  . $118,000 annually for the contract to lease batteries for the buses and $45,481 for annual electric charges.

For diesel at $4/gal, this comes to 780 gallons per week per bus.  You would be hard pressed to burn up that much diesel in a city bus in one week.  For fuel alone, the costs of electric is several times higher than the cost of carbon fuels.

[Fishrrman]

"$5 million loss for Asheville as flawed electric buses sit idle"

I'll reckon that the odds that those buses will never run again is better than 50-50.

Wonder if there's much on them that is salvageable...?