Everett, WA to sell off nearly half of its electric buses after problems plague fleet

A city in Washington is selling nearly half of its electric bus fleet following reliability issues and difficulty getting replacement parts.

The Everett City Council voted earlier this week to sell nine of the electric buses, of which only four are in service right now, because of reliability issues, including critical sensors and components that have been failing since they went into service. The city is now looking to purchase retrofitted diesel buses so there are no gaps in service.

According to KOMO News, Everett Transit operates 42 fixed-route buses and 29 paratransit vans across its fleet and has been replacing its diesel buses with electric ones to reduce emissions.

On Wednesday, the Everett City Council voted to spend more than $2 million of Everett Transit funds to purchase older diesel buses that have been retrofitted and upgraded. Per the Everett Herald, Everett Transit’s diesel and hybrid buses currently use R99 diesel, which is made from vegetable oils and animal fats.

The electric buses were made by a company called Proterra, which went bankrupt two years ago. Assets of the company were sold, making it harder to get spare parts. The buses cost over $9 million when the city bought them in 2017 and 2019, using mostly state and federal grants. Diesel buses would have cost approximately half that amount. Proterra was repeatedly praised by the Biden administration as the United States' key to dominating the EV field on a global scale.

Everett Transit has 10 other electric buses made by a different company that have been operating reliably. The city still plans on converting to an all-electric fleet over time.

In Oct. 2022, during a trip to Seattle, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a White House initiative to electrify the nation’s school buses. However, it was revealed that in nearby Kent, WA, all 3 of the district’s electric school buses were out of service.