The Asheville fleet isn't doing too well:
https://wlos.com/news/alexa/5-milli...ntenance-director-john-mcdaniel-proterra$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.
