And today in obvious thing happens to obvious people for obvious reasons: A city in Vermont, one of the coldest states in our nation, is having trouble providing public transit because the EV buses the city bought to do the job can’t charge in the cold.
According to the conservative websiteThe Center Square, the buses purchased at the cost of millions for Burlington’s Green Mountain Transit can’t charge below 41 degrees. Thus, at least five of the vehicles in the fleet are out of service in the state’s largest public transportation agency.
Even more reassuring: Federal grants, which meansyourmoney, paid for the vehicles!
According to the Center Square’s report Saturday, the problem lies in the fact that the buses, manufactured by the Canadian firmNew Flyerand acquired last spring, must be charged outdoors due to safety issues with their batteries.
However, there are no replacement batteries ready yet — and the software on the buses also updated when the recall was issued to “decrease the likelihood for fire.”
This “included only allowing the bus to charge to 75 percent and to not allow charging when the battery is below 41 degrees,” a Green Mountain Transit official said.
General Manager Clayton Clark told The Center Square that “the federal government provides public transit agencies with new buses through a competitive grant application process, and success is not a given.”
“From 2020-2024, the [Biden administration’s] priority for grants had been low or no emission vehicles, with grant requests for diesel buses often not awarded,” Clark told the outlet.
“This was part of a concerted effort of the previous administration to accelerate public transits’ migration to replace diesel buses,” he continued. “To be competitive for a grant, GMT … saw electric battery buses as the pathway to get the most new buses.
“Green Mountain Transit’s priority is new buses, regardless of the type,” he added, noting that “electric battery buses are 90 percent paid for by federal and Volkswagen settlement funds.”
Source: VidNews » Feed
