Volkswagen is buying an electric bus for Greensboro.
Not exactly, but that is where the money originates for a new electric bus that will be the 17th in the Greensboro Transportation Agency’s fleet
The money is coming from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality from a 2016 settlement of $14.7 billion Volkswagen made with US Environmental Protection Agency. That money was made available by the EPA for vehicle buybacks, infrastructure improvements and environmental mitigation.
Along with the new electric bus, the city will also use some of the grant funds for the construction of a new electric bus quick-charger at the J. Douglas Galyon Depot.
Greensboro wasn’t the only city in North Carolina to get a share of the $92 million in Volkswagen settlement money; Charlotte, Raleigh, Wilmington and Salisbury also received a portion of the settlement funds granted to the state.
Many school systems in the state also received grants to replace old school buses with new more environmentally friendly school buses, but Guilford County Schools did not receive funding in this round of grants.
The grant awards included:
- $12.2 million for school bus replacements
- $6.1 million for transit bus replacements
- $4.2 million for on-road heavy equipment including refuse haulers, dump trucks and debris trucks
- $1.8 million for off road equipment (ferry repower projects)
- $3.4 million for ZEV DC Fast Charge stations
Greensboro launched its electric bus program with a ceremony in February 2019, although the electric buses actually went on the road in January, making Greensboro the first city in North Carolina to use electric buses in its public transportation fleet.
Greensboro began with 10 electric buses in its fleet, which is now 16 and will be 17 when the one paid for with this Volkswagen settlement grant is delivered.
Although electric buses are more expensive to purchase than diesel buses, former GDOT Director Adam Fischer explained that when the buses were being introduced to the system, over the life of the bus the city would save money on electric buses because of the reduced fuel cost and the much lower maintenance costs for electric buses.
farfegnugen!
The money it costs to produce electricity exceeds the savings use in an electric vehicle. Supply & demand is the only way to fairly price energy. This is a fact, not my opinion. Look it up for yourself. Green energy is a battle cry for polys to make the masses feel good.
Coop? Nupe.
Compare the cost of producing electricity to the cost of producing gasoline or diesel.
Pump form ground, pump to transport, pump from transport to storage, pump from storage to refinery, refinery energy, pump product to storage, pump from storage to transport, transport, storage, pump from storage to consumer.
All that electricity to produce Petroleum energy to use in internal combustion engines that extract 15-20% of the available energy for mechanical work. The rest is wasted heat energy.
Get over your addiction to Petroleum energy.
Good point. Nonetheless, the market should decide, not a poly. Utilities that produce electricity such as Duke or Dominion make very small percentage of the power from solar, wind, or nuclear. Some hydro. Most of it is produced by fossil fuels: coal, oil, natural gas. You can find the info on the Dominion or Duke websites. That is my point, not the inefficiency of gasoline engines, which incidentally is much improved in recent years.
Wanna drive to Jacksonville? 500 miles. One day without too much difficulty. How many times will you have to stop for a while to charge your batteries? What if your stop has a waiting line? Not for me, period. Got a car with 500-600 mile range at night, with heat or A/C going? Not today, Jose.
I have driven to LA, over three days non-stop. (I rode and drove). Try that electric.
When solar panels become so efficient that your auto’s entire body would be a solar converter, that WOULD be something.
Since they are moving to electric vehicles, why not install solar panels to produce at least some of the recharge power needed. Maybe a good thought.