Predictably, the city's taxpayers got screwed.
The Chinese made BYD buses missed their promised performance marks by so much that some of them couldn’t even finish a single route before the batteries died, coming up dozens of miles short. Passengers had to sit there in the heat while waiting for a second bus to come along, transer them over and finish the run. This actually increased operating costs rather than decreasing them.
The Times found that the first five buses BYD delivered were pulled out of service in less than six months, having been branded “unsuitable” for their intended use. But still, the city turned around and awarded tens of millions of dollars in additional contracts to the company which kept promising to do better. Had anyone been keeping their eye on the ball they’d have known that BYD had been screwing over other municipalities in a similar fashion. When Albuquerque attempted a similar plan, they wound up with results which were just as awful, if not worse.
But, do you think the voters will eject these morons from office? Unlikely. Hey, anyone who tries to sell us something that's "green" has to be a good honest person, right? Not a snake oil merchant, right?
The Port Authority Of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, PA area) is buying two electric buses. I'm wondering if they are from the same company......
ReplyDeleteAnd we pay and pay for the continual failures of the left.
ReplyDeleteSame here in New Zealand. we stupidly bought chinese electric trains and had to repair them before they went into service.This despite the fact that we used to make steam loco engines years ago.No better to put locals out of work and get useless equipment from the chinese.
ReplyDeleteObliviously they have never run a for-profit business....
ReplyDeleteBYD does not stand for "Build Your Dreams" but for "Boy You're Dumb."
ReplyDeleteI've been to BYD in China to supply US parts to these buses so they can claim enough American content to satisfy "Buy America" requirements for use of public money. Ok built vehicles, battery technology is still unsatisfactory in a Kw per pound environment. All HD electric vehicles have this problem.
This is the City of Lost Angels, or where good ideas go to die.
ReplyDeleteThe vote there is so rigged that no decent candidate will ever win there, ever. All the illegals know who to vote for, and that's most of the voterbase now; there's a reason the DMV has been cranking out driver's licenses hand over fist (with check boxes for voting, all perfectly legal according to the 9th Circus Court, so nothing can be done.)