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by VDC staff
Green Mountain Transit (GMT) is keeping two electric buses in storage because disposing of them would require the agency to repay the federal grant that funded most of their purchase, General Manager Clayton Clark told WCAX.
GMT acquired the buses in 2020 from Proterra, which later went bankrupt in 2023. The buses experienced ongoing mechanical and electrical issues, eventually becoming too difficult for the agency to maintain after manufacturer support and parts became unavailable.
Clark said the agency spent about $18,000 on the buses, with federal funding covering most of the cost. Although their battery propulsion systems worked well, problems with other components—including the doors—made them unreliable.
GMT’s other electric buses have performed well, and two additional buses are joining its fleet. The agency is also exploring hybrid buses, with its first expected to arrive in about 18 months, WCAX reporter Michael Buchanan said in his October 29 bylined news story and video.
Problems with the Proterra buses were reported in 2021 by VDC. GMT also has had problems with four other e-buses, built by New Flyer, due to a risk of battery fire, VDC and WCAX reported this January.
For now, the two Proterra buses will remain in storage at little to no cost. Clark said he does not expect them to return to service but believes a larger transit agency with specialized maintenance staff might be able to get them running again.
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Categories: Transportation
Sue whoever sold us these busses and fire those officials who made the decisions to buy them?
So instead of taking responsibility for a poor decision, we are going to put the problem aside and hope it just goes away? Government at its best. Hey, let’s create a study to see what we could have done with tax payer dollars, committee and all, hell its not our money! They should pay all the money they got, back to the government, come hell or high water. What does that show the little folk who receive help from the government? I’ll tell ya, find a loophole and use it, lying is better than integrity.
which federal agency provided the grant?
Are these the useless busses that had to be kept above 40F when charging, and the fire marshall and/or insurance company would not allow them to be brought indoors when it got below 40F? It’s easy to spend big money on some enviro project when it was ponied up by some random taxpayers through a grant.
Anybody with common sense knew that these buses would have trouble operating in the winter. The fires were a just an added bonus to help the prove that we were right. Another example of progressive lawmakers doing stupid things.
I seem to recall that when the four buses burn’t March 2026 it was mentioned at that time they could not be charged below a certain temperature and if so they could have the likelihood of catching on fire. I am hoping the purchases were made not knowing that the EV buses had the potential of burning while charging in cold weather, but if we did to be sure we had to know that Vermonts cold climate may not been a good fit. At that time it was suggested that they be charged in a heated building. That was discouraged simply because it was mentioned they had the potential of burning at any time. The losses then would not only be the buses destroyed, but also the structure storing them. We have now decided to store two EV buses. My real concern is and has been that knowing the vulnerability of the potential of EV buses unexpectedly igniting into flames with 60 plus of our most precious cargo, our school children on board.
This particular story is about Green Mountain Transit’s buses. The issue with the 4 buses burning up as well as the charging equipment were school buses parked at an elementary school in Williston to the tune of a $2 million loss. The official report said that it was not actually the electrical/battery systems that started the fire but whatever started it, they burned, fortunately with no injuries. My point is, regardless of the details, these large electric vehicles are not ready for prime time, especially in a location that experiences cold weather, and again I must say that it’s easy to experiment with poor decisions lacking proper research when the money being spent is someone else’s.
Are electric airplanes ready for prime time????? Vermont gets very cold. Comment from Richard Day.
…also, high in the sky it is always very cold. I suppose Beta and others have figured this in, but dont get the idea that battery planes will be able to fly in the stratosphere without some fancy engineering to keep the batteries warm.