Energy

Biden-Harris Admin Recalls Hundreds Of Electric Buses Amid Fire Concerns

School bus on the street.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued a warning Wednesday about 483 electric transit buses being recalled over safety defects, according to a safety advisory.

Phoenix Motorcars is voluntarily recalling Proterra 800V catalyst vehicles from 2020 to 2021 and ZX5 Proterra transit buses from 2020 to 2022 over concerns that they could be prone to catching fire, according to an advisory from the FTA. The vehicles were first recalled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in September over issues with their radiator fan electrical circuits overheating, which is a potential fire hazard, according to a Sept. 5 report.

A customer reported that their Proterra bus started smoking in July 2021, and a second incident with a smoking vehicle occurred in January 2024, according to a report from Smart Cities Dive. Phoenix Motorcars obtained Proterra’s transit buses after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2023.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm faced criticism in 2021 over her owning shares of Proterra, which was seen as a conflict of interest since the company had a direct stake in the department’s work. Granholm did not sell her shares in Proterra until after the House Oversight Committee opened an investigation into her ownership stake in the company in May 2021.

There have been various issues with the rollout of electric buses, including a Maryland county’s bus program resulting in millions of dollars of ‘wasteful spending’ due to mechanical issues and multiple reports of electric buses across the nation catching on fire. California’s Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) is also transitioning to electric school buses amid high levels of substandard academic performance in the district.

The U.S. EV market has been marred with lackluster customer demand. Ford announced in April that it was delaying production of a new EV line, and various other American automakers have abandoned their EV goals.

Phoenix Motorcars did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.