state-of-the-art electric bus unable to hold enough of a charge to function.

The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, spent $133 million on a state-of-the-art electric bus system only to see it go bust.

 

 The arrangement for 15 electric buses slated for the city’s transit fleet is being cancelled after staff cited brake failures and other equipment malfunctions during training and testing, according to Mayor Tim Keller.

 “When we started running the buses on test runs, we found major problems with the battery range, the brakes and some electrical issues,” Keller said. “They seem to be things that were already on the ‘to be fixed list,’ but they started getting worse.

 “No one will make an electric bus to our specifications because they say it’s not possible,” Keller said. “No other company will do it. There’s no option for electric. We’ll go with a version of clean diesel or gas, then we’ll look to phase in electric once the technology catches up.”

 Since the project was shelved, the buses are sitting out of commission and the stations for the rapid transit system sit unused, inviting vandals to destroy the newly built ticket stations.

A waste of tax payers money!