Interesting development in Philly. The Proterra buses saga is long and a massive black eye to electrification of large commercial-scale vehicles. They simply didn't work and eventually drove the company into bankruptcy, even with a major order book driven by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Effectively all the U.S. medium-to-large public bus systems have major issues of inoperative Proterra buses simply sitting at depots decaying. The Philly Fire underscores the risk from decaying nickel-based batteries.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) demands one of the nation's largest transit systems, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), report on practices for the storage of decommissioned Proterra electric buses. The inquiry follows many battery fire incidents in decommissioned electric buses with lithium-ion batteries in storage and includes a recent incident which occurred in a SEPTA storage yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
On June 5, a fire ignited at SEPTA's Midvale/Roberts yard, involving a decommissioned electric bus with a lithium-ion battery. The fire destroyed numerous SEPTA buses and triggered air-quality warnings. The incident is subject to an ongoing investigation by the appropriate authorities.
https://www.transit.dot.gov/about/news/federal-transit-administration-launches-inquiry-storage-electric-buses-septa-following
Source: BlueSkyd2000
1 Comment
They simply don’t work? I think BYD would like a word…