It is generally common knowledge that batteries do not respond well to cold weather. They tend to lose their charge quickly. That is one of many reasons I am skeptical about electric cars and electric school busses in areas of the country that have real winter. Well, my skepticism has been proved to be warranted.
On Monday, The Daily Caller reported:
This is a classic example of bureaucratic blindness to unintended consequences and projects that might sound rational in theory but end up absurd in practice.
New York has mandated that all school bus purchases must be entirely electric by 2027, citing cleaner air, “better academic outcomes,” a quieter, more peaceful ride for students and staff, among other seemingly bogus reasons. Now that schools across the state are making the transition, one school district in western New York, the Lake Shore Central School District, is confronting a downside: heating.
WIVB News 4, a local news outlet in Erie County, New York, has received several calls from parents alleging that their kids come home freezing cold because drivers turn down or completely turn off the heat to save energy for the electric engines.
“The heaters on the bus run off the same electricity as the bus itself,” Scott Ziobro, a local parent, told the outlet. “They were told that it drains the battery capacity of the bus itself.”
…Another parent said an electric bus broke down, leaving kids stranded in the cold.
“The bus broke down en route,” parent Chris Lampman told the outlet. “They deployed a substitute bus, and the bus was more than 30 minutes late. My son stood outside for over 35 minutes waiting for a bus that wasn’t coming. Some of those kids are on there for upwards of a half hour or more while the bus makes its route. There’s no reason that the kids should freeze for all that time.”
The people who make the rules need to be subject to them. Let’s make every legislator or school board member who supported the electric buses ride them to work!