Our current Vice President is known for her “sincere” opinions and annoying speaking style. A recurring theme is her love of, and for, a big yellow school bus. Many of us have fond memories of yellow school bus rides, such as attending out-of-town football games on an autumn evening. But most of us are not prone to episodes of giddiness when the subject arises.
“Climate Change” proposals receive equivalent “sincere” treatment from the Vice President. Now the two topics are being interwoven, as Americans are being required to pony up for Big Yellow School Bus EVs (Electric Vehicles), and the results are (predictably) awful. Following are a few stories from recent media articles and newscasts. See if you can detect an underlying theme.
In Connecticut, an electric school bus burst into flames in a parking lot, causing the school district to employ diesel buses to assure students a safe ride to and from their schools. New electric buses now utilize specialized (and expensive) fire detection systems to alert bus drivers when immediate evacuation is required. Once a fire starts, it is difficult to impossible to stop the burning if the fire reaches the battery, as each cell contains its own fuel supply.
In Michigan, The Administration spent a Billion Dollars (9 zeroes) to electrify the Ann Arbor School District bus fleet. Each bus is about 5 times the cost of a traditional diesel bus, and they have suffered performance problems.
While there are many stories of burning EVs, including cars and busses, perhaps the greatest story of government gone “green crazy” is from the thriving metropolis of Wrangell, Alaska. The Biden Administration awarded the Wrangell School District (3 schools total) an electric school bus, but their private bus company was mandated to destroy a working bus to make way for the Big Yellow Battery-Powered Boondoggle.
The bus company did not agree that it would be in their best interests to destroy a working people hauler. So, the School District itself got permission to purchase a used bus, in order to destroy it and get the “free” EV bus. The EPA mandated several requirements, including that it must be an in-service, working, diesel bus, and it had to be made inoperable forever in an approved fashion. Working model used busses cost about $10,000.
Does anyone remember the 2009 Obama-era “Cash for Clunkers” idiocy, in which the government incentivized trading in working older cars for newer, energy-efficient models? Like the Wrangell bus, the “Clunkers” had to be rendered forever inoperable, destined for landfills. The net result was a spike in prices for used cars, rendering many people unable to trade up. Hey, government, STOP HELPING!
And, BTW, how does all that electricity get generated in the first place?
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