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Post by mervinswerved on Aug 8, 2023 13:17:22 GMT -5
OK? They don't make school buses. And anyway, our town has transitioned to mostly electric transit buses and they work just fine. So does my electric car. No, they were making school buses but they weren’t performing. Please show me a picture of a proterra school bus. They make certain batteries which go into school buses made by an entirely different company, which is doing just fine, actually. |
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Post by blue-footedbooby on Aug 8, 2023 13:21:17 GMT -5
OK? They don't make school buses. And anyway, our town has transitioned to mostly electric transit buses and they work just fine. So does my electric car. No, they were making school buses but they weren’t performing. Reference, or just your usual lie? Company is still producing, is only filing bankruptcy because of cost issues and nothing to do with tech. Plenty of competition for EV buses out there. |
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Post by mervinswerved on Aug 8, 2023 13:22:47 GMT -5
I was curious, so I looked it up and our school district is operating several electric school buses. Not on my kids' route, so I hadn't noticed.
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Post by BearClause on Aug 8, 2023 13:23:16 GMT -5
OK? They don't make school buses. And anyway, our town has transitioned to mostly electric transit buses and they work just fine. So does my electric car. Proterra was a startup. That’s always a risky proposition. However, they’re reorganizing and haven’t gone out of business. They’re also facing competition from existing manufacturers with more resources. Like Gillig, Cummins (makes the battery and electric drive systems), New Flyer, Hyundai, and BYD. I’ve ridden on BYD electric business Anaheim and they work great. Transit buses work well because the battery lowers the center of gravity where they don’t need the space for a baggage/cargo hold. There are lots of trolley bus makers with understanding of electric propulsion. Many have already incorporated battery systems to drive short distances without wires. And Thomas Built and Blue Bird have electric school buses. Cummins has diversified into electric systems and work with the bus makers. |
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Post by mervinswerved on Aug 8, 2023 13:23:22 GMT -5
No, they were making school buses but they weren’t performing. Reference, or just your usual lie? Company is still producing, is only filing bankruptcy because of cost issues and nothing to do with tech. Plenty of competition for EV buses out there. holiday doesn't know the difference between chapter 11 and chapter 7 bankruptcy. |
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Post by mervinswerved on Aug 8, 2023 13:24:34 GMT -5
OK? They don't make school buses. And anyway, our town has transitioned to mostly electric transit buses and they work just fine. So does my electric car. Proterra was a startup. That’s always a risky proposition. However, they’re reorganizing and haven’t gone out of business. They’re also facing competition from existing manufacturers with more resources. Like Gillig, Cummins (makes the battery and electric drive systems), New Flyer, Hyundai, and BYD. I’ve ridden on BYD electric business Anaheim and they work great. Transit buses work well because the battery lowers the center of gravity where they don’t need the space for a baggage/cargo hold. There are lots of trolley bus makers with understanding of electric propulsion. Many have already incorporated battery systems to drive short distances without wires. And Thomas Built and Blue Bird have electric school buses. Cummins has diversified into electric systems and work with the bus makers. Saw a lot of BYDs in Australia and New Zealand. More of those (and Polestars) than Teslas. Also: Christchurch and Sydney airports have valet parking areas we walked through and goddamn. |
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on Aug 8, 2023 14:17:35 GMT -5
To provide some context as to Holiday's sudden interest in EV transportation: A few years ago, President Biden mentioned Proterra in a speech about the future of EV technology. So naturally, conservative media pounced on Proterra's Chapter 11 filing as a "gotcha" (well, what's considered a "gotcha" in the conservosphere) - EV's don't work, it's the fault of Biden, climate change/what climate change? blah blah blah.
Looking at the available literature, Proterra has been making EV buses for 20 years, largely for public transit (they're all over the L.A. Basin), with no particular record of high rates of failure or whatever Holiday is claiming - and no, they don't make school buses. It appears they got into a major cash crunch from overexpanding their battery manufacturing operations, trouble getting private equity funding to scale up said operations, as well as lingering supply chain issues.
The company still plans on continuing operations and emerging from Chapter 11, and claims they have around a $1 billion order backlog. We'll see, they may have to sell off at least parts of the company if not the entire thing.
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Post by BearClause on Aug 8, 2023 14:19:56 GMT -5
No, they were making school buses but they weren’t performing. Please show me a picture of a proterra school bus. They make certain batteries which go into school buses made by an entirely different company, which is doing just fine, actually. They mention Thomas Built, but that company also works with Cummins. That’s always the tricky thing with dealing with technology from a smaller (I thought they were a startup earlier). Especially when other companies with more resources and an extensive reputation are competitors. |
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Post by BearClause on Aug 8, 2023 14:31:29 GMT -5
FYI, I remember when they were still in startup mode, which was two years ago. My bad.
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Post by tomclen on Aug 8, 2023 15:27:28 GMT -5
 Trump Administration gave these greedy bastards a $700-MILLION bailout for their diesel trucks and they took the money and stiffed the country and their 30,000 employees. |
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Post by HOLIDAY on Aug 8, 2023 16:36:57 GMT -5
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Post by HOLIDAY on Aug 8, 2023 16:38:58 GMT -5
Trump Administration gave these greedy bastards a $700-MILLION bailout for their diesel trucks and they took the money and stiffed the country and their 30,000 employees. how about trader joe promising this company help to survive then backing out of the deal so the unions could strong arm the company and break them? Why...because the unions wanted leverage with UPS and this was an example to UPS if you crossed them. Amazon is next. Do you due diligence Tommy boy. |
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Post by tomclen on Aug 8, 2023 16:52:05 GMT -5
If you get a free gift of $700-million and can't make it, you should be out of business.
Of course, the top CEOs all had golden parachutes.
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Post by mervinswerved on Aug 8, 2023 16:58:37 GMT -5
The most valuable car company in the world exclusively makes electric cars. |
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on Aug 8, 2023 17:07:31 GMT -5
Trump Administration gave these greedy bastards a $700-MILLION bailout for their diesel trucks and they took the money and stiffed the country and their 30,000 employees. how about trader joe promising this company help to survive then backing out of the deal so the unions could strong arm the company and break them? Why...because the unions wanted leverage with UPS and this was an example to UPS if you crossed them. Amazon is next. Do you due diligence Tommy boy. The union gave up billions in wage and pension benefits over the past decade to help try and keep Yellow afloat, including an agreement with the company just 30 days ago to hold off on wage/benefits demands. Yellow went under anyway, then blamed the Teamsters...meanwhile, Yellow's competitors (also unionized) are doing quite well in the same environment. Yellow's executive team bears most of the blame for the company's demise (as is usually the case). On top the $700 million Yellow owes the government, the Trump administration also picked up an ownership share - so now the government owns 31% of the dumpster fire that is Yellow Freight. That was some reeeal smart decision-making right there. |
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