Two projects to transition to electric buses in South Florida fail
Hallandale Beach and Miami-Dade authorities invested $126 million to acquire 111 electric buses, of which only seven are working
By Evaristo Lara, Huella Zero
In April of last year, Hallandale Beach —located in Broward County— became the first city in South Florida to have a fleet of completely electric buses.
“Electric transportation means cleaner air and a better quality of life for our residents. Reduced waiting time is a great achievement and this was a great project that was carried out over five years,” said Noemy Sandoval, deputy city manager of Broward.
Authorities invested $54 million to acquire 42 electric buses. However, 11 months later the alleged advance to combat air pollution seems to have been a bad deal.
Currently none of these units are circulating. They remain parked waiting for parts to be repaired.
BYD, the Chinese vehicle manufacturer with which the purchase agreement was established, shows no willingness to meet the needs of its client in Florida
An even more complex situation occurs in Miami-Dade, where its authorities invested $72 million dollars in exchange for 75 electric buses, of which the California company Proterra only delivered 69 before declaring bankruptcy.
Of these vehicles, only six or seven work, while the rest have faults that prevent their use.
What problems influenced this?
Hallandale Beach and Miami-Dade face the same problem: the deficiency of the electric buses purchased
In both cases and despite being assembled by different companies, on average they require repair after rolling on the asphalt about 600 miles. In contrast, old buses that use fossil fuels need to be taken to the workshop every 4,500 miles. Another disadvantage of these electric buses is the complexity of their software, which requires more attention from programmers to fine-tune than from a mechanical expert. Identifying these factors is key for future projects to transition to clean vehicles.
Warranty of the units
Miami-Dade authorities hope that Phoenix EV, the company that acquired Proterra, will be responsible for the warranty of the 69 units delivered so far.
“We have already identified attractive growth opportunities as we add transit buses to our product offering and we look forward to serving existing Proterra Transit customers and developing long-term relationships with them,” the company recently said in a statement.
With 111 electric buses broken down, the $126 million dollars paid for them raises doubts about the future of mobility for large groups of people in electric vehicles.
For President Donald Trump, this could be the best thing that is happening. The president supports the production and use of fossil fuels and rejects the transition to clean energy, despite the pollution that will worsen climate change.
Currently, in a country with more than 340 million inhabitants, there are only 6,000 electric buses, of which 1,000 are for school transportation. This figure reflects the current state of the automotive sector, while climate change advances at full throttle.
