They go through more brakes and tires cause they are heavier .
But the fruits of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,faithfulness, Gentleness and self control. Against such things there is no law. Galations 5: 22&23
If they were having trouble with diesel busses in the cold they weren't maintaining them properly. Do they have barns to store busses in when not in use? Heaters in the busses are likely diesel fired. Woody didn't want to say that. Too early to say these were a good choice. The 23 cents per mile is way false! Not too many, if any, electric busses in Alaska!
School buses maybe not, but there is at least one public trans bus that runs daily between the Matsu Valley and Anchorage. I haven’t heard squat about it for maintenance, but it’s only a couple of months old as well.
"Still, schools that upgrade their diesel buses for electric models can sometimes do so for low or no cost, Bettis said, since the various governments requiring work fleets to get cleaner are providing some funding to make the transition possible. On top of the EPA's $5 billion, states like California and Colorado have their own incentive programs, and there was more money in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Bettis said.
"If you can get $60,000 for this bus, for example, in California, and another $40,000 from the IRA, you're looking at $100,000 off a $225,000 bus," he said. "You can get down pretty close to price parity just with those two things. And there's no shortage of any of that money.""
Their creative math is astounding. Upgrade and do so for Low or No cost? If they were to finish the sentence it would say "low or no cost to the school district budget but we'll be pulling the funds from taxes and the IRA program that again are paid for by you, the taxpayer..
Since the Government has no money of it's own, the low cost is going to be subsidized by taxpayers. Isn't it nice to have new things that cost little or nothing?!
"Camping places fix themselves in your mind as if you had spent long periods of your life in them. You will remember a curve of your wagon track in the grass of the plain like the features of a friend." Isak Dinesen
It seems like Woody is forgetting to use the actual cost of the buses in his math. Otherwise school buses seem like a good match for EV tech, short routes and back to charge.
They are getting there, first one started picking up kids in 2020.
Tok's first year review in 2021.
Alaska’s electric school bus in the extreme cold
Alaska got its very first electric school bus. Here’s how the first and only electric school bus in The Last Frontier is running just over a year later.
In October 2020, Electrek reported that the state of Alaska got its very first electric school bus. Here’s how the first and only electric school bus in The Last Frontier is running just over a year later.
Alaska’s electric school bus in the extreme cold
The electric school bus, which was built by Thomas Built Buses in North Carolina, is picking up and dropping off kids in the town of Tok in the Tanana Valley, in eastern Alaska. The $400,000 bus cost $50,000 because an Alaska Energy Authority program covered the rest of the cost.
Tok Transportation bought the bus with an Alaskan Energy Authority grant, and it replaced one of seven diesel school buses in the town.
The electric school bus is kept in a bus barn and charged by solar panels on the bus barn that were purchased with grant money, and also with power from the local utility company.
Tok Transportation co-owner Gerald Blackard explained how the electric school bus is performing in extreme cold temperatures:
It has not missed a single day of school.
What we found out is the bus heated well. It kept the interior at normal temperature.
Even with a little bit of insulation on the batteries and kind of covering up the engine compartment, to try to hold in as much heat as we could, we were still using more energy to heat the bus than we were to drive the bus.
On January 27, we had 38 below.
The bus’ efficiency that day was 3.46 kilowatts per mile. So this fall, in August-September, we were running between 1.4 and 1.7 kilowatts per mile.
It seems like Woody is forgetting to use the actual cost of the buses in his math. Otherwise school buses seem like a good match for EV tech, short routes and back to charge.
Propane or NG would work about as well, cost less. EV has its’ place, but not a cure all.
It seems like Woody is forgetting to use the actual cost of the buses in his math. Otherwise school buses seem like a good match for EV tech, short routes and back to charge.
A leftist lie to forward an agenda, relying upon those who hear the news to just accept it without critical thought?
Ever heard of a Telma electric retarders? No friction so they don't wear on anything. We had them on out fire engines and I don't ever recall one wearing out. His claim makes sense.
Fight fire, save lives, laugh in the face of danger.
So it's "cheaper" because they only paid for 15% of it? Meaning the rest of us paid for the other 85%. It's no wonder our .gov educational system is an international joke.
Volkswagon paid for it. RIF.
Fight fire, save lives, laugh in the face of danger.
I wonder what a battery replacement would cost? That should be figured into the cost per mile to operate. If they can make it work, great, but don’t BS us on the cost. When the biden administration is involved I’m afraid you won’t get the facts or the truth.
"I was born in the log cabin I helped my grandfather build"
It seems like Woody is forgetting to use the actual cost of the buses in his math. Otherwise school buses seem like a good match for EV tech, short routes and back to charge.
Propane or NG would work about as well, cost less. EV has its’ place, but not a cure all.
we should be using all forms of energy, it doesn't need to be one way or no way....bob
$5 million loss for Asheville as flawed electric buses sit idle by Kimberly KingThu, January 18th 2024
JAN. 18, 2024 - Asheville spent about $1 million each for five electric buses in 2018, but software and/or mechanical issues have made them an expensive and disappointing purchase, city staff say. (Photo credit: WLOS staff)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — 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.
"Still, schools that upgrade their diesel buses for electric models can sometimes do so for low or no cost, Bettis said, since the various governments requiring work fleets to get cleaner are providing some funding to make the transition possible. On top of the EPA's $5 billion, states like California and Colorado have their own incentive programs, and there was more money in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Bettis said.
"If you can get $60,000 for this bus, for example, in California, and another $40,000 from the IRA, you're looking at $100,000 off a $225,000 bus," he said. "You can get down pretty close to price parity just with those two things. And there's no shortage of any of that money.""
Their creative math is astounding. Upgrade and do so for Low or No cost? If they were to finish the sentence it would say "low or no cost to the school district budget but we'll be pulling the funds from taxes and the IRA program that again are paid for by you, the taxpayer..
Since the Government has no money of it's own, the low cost is going to be subsidized by taxpayers. Isn't it nice to have new things that cost little or nothing?!
The Irish Republican Army is pushing electric buses in the USA now? Wow!
Never take life to seriously, after all ,no one gets out of it alive.
![[Linked Image from media.alaskapublic.org]](https://media.alaskapublic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/TokSchoolBus2-600x450.jpg)
![[Linked Image from media.alaskapublic.org]](https://media.alaskapublic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/SchoolBus.png)
![[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]](https://i.postimg.cc/nhqZTmxJ/Screen-Shot-2020-11-08-at-5-01-55-PM.png)