No comment yet from Senator Murphy about whether he will be doing another photo op or how all of the GHG emissions from this wasted investment will be offset. The buses cost double the cost of a better-performing diesel bus, before all of the EV charging infrastructure (and fire suppression equipment), and poor performance. Connecticut assumed the bus would last the same amount of time as a diesel bus: 12 years. Instead, it lasted less than 1 year.
WTNH (7/25/22) reports: "A CT Transit electric bus caught fire in the parking lot of the department Saturday morning, according to fire officials. The Hamden Fire Department responded to the lithium ion battery fire at 2061 State St. The bus was unoccupied when it caught fire. Officials said the fire was difficult to extinguish due to the thermal chemical process that produces great heat and continually reignites. Firemen had to use 'copious' amounts of water to extinguish the flames, according to Assistant Fire Chief Jeffrey Naples. Two CT Transit workers were transported as a precaution from exposure to the smoke, and two firefighters were transported for heat exhaustion, officials said. All were released from the hospital following treatment. CT Transit Interim Deputy General Manager Josh Rickman said the bus involved in the fire was purchased and delivered in 2021. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation by the Connecticut State Police Fire and Explosion Investigative Unit. There is no criminal aspect to the fire at this time."
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Of course, he had plenty to say when he was shoveling money into the program...
New Haven Register (3/11/22) reports: "Thanks in part to a $11.4 million grant from the federal government, residents of New Haven and other Connecticut cities can look forward to seeing more clean energy CTtransit buses on the streets. The state will add 22 electric buses to its fleet, officials announced Friday at a press conference by the city green. Once the vehicles arrive, Connecticut will have a total of 34 electric public transit buses, according to Richard Andreski, the public transit bureau chief for the Connecticut Department of Transportation. In total, officials say it will cost $25.7 million to add the 22 buses, a price tag that includes retrofitting garages. The $11.4 million grant, which comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration’s Buses and Bus Facilities Program, will help offset the price tag — and other funds could, too. Andreski and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., indicated the purchase marks a step toward a larger goal: turning the entire state fleet, which consists of over 800 buses, electric. With two electric buses parked behind him, Murphy said he expects Connecticut will receive additional grants 'to continue this process of phasing out diesel buses.'"
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"That the Dominican Republic sources most of its fuel from the United States while Puerto Rico—a U.S. territory with American citizens—does not (and cannot in the case of bulk LPG and LNG) is an embarrassing absurdity. Such a distorted state of affairs can only be explained by misguided Jones Act protectionism."
– Colin Grabow and
Alfredo Carrillo Obregon,
The Cato Institute
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