Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 4/17

[SVPete]

The Electric Bus Bust Mayhem Continues

https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2026/04/17/the-electric-bus-bust-mayhem-continues-n3813999

Most wind up in the slow-rolling disaster column, and man - that does seem to be the case with the Biden administration's $1.6B push to electrify city transit fleets.

...E-buses have been purchased by transit agencies in part through a "Low-No" emissions grant program mainly through the Federal Transit Administration that received a $1.6 billion infusion during the Biden years.

"Given the scale of this investment, there must be an examination into whether taxpayers are receiving the reliable, deployable transit assets capable of serving the communities for which they were funded," Power the Future (PTF) President Daniel Turner said.
...
...Similarly, PTF highlighted a 2024 EPA Inspector General audit that found the agency failed to meaningfully track the deployment of electric school buses under a 2022 rebate program through which $836 million was handed out by federal officials.
...An EPA Inspector General statement from October regarding the school bus program said "three material weaknesses so significant that they could lead to material misstatements in the Agency’s financial statements" were found.
"The EPA did not monitor bus deployment status and recipient use of over $836 million of 2022 Clean School Bus, or CSB, Program rebates, despite the Agency stating it would do so," another OIG report from 2024 said.

...
In March, I had a field day posting some of the latest news that had come in on both the urban and school district E-bus experiments. Tragically for the tax dollars involved, and, in some cases, the health, comfort, and well-being of the kiddos on the buses, most were abysmal disappointments and many flat-out disasters.

There were mechanical issues galore, scary fires that thankfully erupted in unoccupied vehicles but consumed the fleet in some cases, and maintenance/parts problems arising from bankrupt bus manufacturers that seemed insurmountable.

I'm so old that I remember when "Electric Mayhem" was the house band on "The Muppet Show".

[ADsOutburst]

There were mechanical issues galore, scary fires that thankfully erupted in unoccupied vehicles but consumed the fleet in some cases, and maintenance/parts problems arising from bankrupt bus manufacturers that seemed insurmountable.

Fires...

Besides being a threat to human life, they're... bad for the environment.