Is Canada ready for the coming electric vehicle revolution?

S

spilledthebeer

Executive Branch Member
Jan 26, 2017
9,296
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Hoid said:
It has been in the forefront of pollution control
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THE ONLY ENVIRONMENT LIE-BERALS ARE INTERESTED IN IS THEIRS! AND THEY DECREE IT MUST BE LOADED WITH GRAVY_ FROM CARBON CRAP AND TRADE SCAMS!

LIE-berals have suckered Cdns on the crap and trade- but the trick has been exposed and now LIE-berals face voter outrage- LIE-berals have badly over estimated their ability to calm the public with carbon crap!

 Here is an article illustrating how LIE-berals use fake news- FOR THEIR benefit and OUR cost! With some comments of my own in brackets):

Wynne and Liberals excel at fake news

By Lorrie Goldstein, Toronto Sun. First posted: Saturday, April 15, 2017 07:54 PM EDT | Updated: Saturday, April 15, 2017 08:02 PM EDT

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and her cabinet ministers excel at alternative facts and fake news.

The latest example was Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s speech Thursday to The Empire Club, part of which boasted about how the Liberals saved Ontario’s electricity system by doing the heavy lifting needed to improve it.

As a result, Sousa said, Ontario’s electricity grid is now “the envy of North America” because the Liberals restored “integrity and reliability” to it, unlike neighbouring Canadian provinces and the rust belt states.

Simply put, what on Earth is Sousa talking about?

Hydro One controls the transmission of electricity through 29,000 km of hydro lines in Ontario and provides electricity to 1.3 million customers.

In her December, 2015 annual report, Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said between 2010 and 2014, Hydro One customers experienced 24% more power outages, lasting 30% longer, while costs to run the system increased by 31%.

She described Hydro One as “consistently one of the least reliable among large Canadian electricity distributors”.

(LIE-berals scoff at anything Lysysk says these days about electricity- IN SPITE of it being LIE-berals who hired her away from Manitoba Hydro! Sounds like she IS equipped to comment on our electrical system in spite of those LIE-beral smears to the contrary!)

She said its maintenance backlog increased by 47% and power outages by 7%, between 2012 and 2014.

(This maintenance backlog grew in spite of MASSIVE INCREASES in the cost of electricity. I have said before that it looks like LIE-berals are using the Hydro file as a massive slush fund- dipping into Hydro cash to fund other pet projects-with NOBODY ALLOWED to look into Hydro books that have been CLOSED since LIE-berals sold part of the system to their FRIENDS!)

Lysyk reported the risk of power failures was increasing because Hydro One hadn’t replaced $4.5 billion in transmission assets, “that have exceeded their planned useful service life”.

(Example-the explison and fire in the Hydro transformer outside 20 King St. West in Toronto that left much of the financial district shut down-how would you like to be on the 50th floor when things go dark?)

In 2014, former Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin reported that trying to get straight answers out of Hydro One on its horrendous customer billing practices, following complaints by 10,000 customers, was like, “wrestling with a slippery pig”.

He said Hydro One had issued more than 100,000 incorrect bills, covering everything from unexplained billings, to “catch-up” bills, “estimated” bills, multiple bills and over-billing.

Wynne is now selling 60% of Hydro One to the private sector, putting it beyond the scrutiny of the auditor general and ombudsman.

Sousa said the government now realizes electricity rates are too high, which is why its cutting them by a total of 25% in June -by increasing the province’s debt to subsidize them.

(But the FIX may be in with this- if LIE-berals cut GENERATING COSTS then it will only affect a PORTION of our bills! To get a true 25 percent reduction they will also need to cut distribution costs as well. AND they have set us up to make it easy to reduce costs by going to MONTHLY billing- WHILE KEEPING the bi- monthly distribution costs-which amounts to a ONE THIRD INCREASE in price for the switch to monthly billing- talk about a windfall profit! If LIE-berals proceed with their price “reductions” as I fear then that 25 percent reduction may actually be an INCREASE of 10- 20 percent over what we paid in 2015! With “help” like this its no wonder LIE-berals have become HATED by Cdns!)

While Sousa didn’t mention it, prior to this announcement, the Liberals claimed electricity pricing in Ontario was in the middle of the pack compared to Canada and the US.

Hydro Quebec does an annual comparison of electricity rates in major cities, standardized for a monthly consumption of 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh), with all prices in Canadian currency.

Its 2016 survey found electricity prices for residential customers in Toronto of 17.81 cents per kilowatt/hour and in Ottawa of 16.15 cents per kilowatt/hour.

That was higher than in Vancouver -10.70; Calgary- 10.40; Edmonton- 10.37; Regina- 14.65; Winnipeg- 8.43; Montreal- 7.23; Halifax- 15.88; Moncton- 12.50; Charlottetown- 16.02; St. John’s- 11.96; Seattle- 13.62; Portland- 13.94; Chicago- 15.19; Nashville- 14.28; Houston- 11.25 and Miami- 11.67.

(OH my-YET MORE REASONS to call them LIE-berals! They would have to GENUINELY drop their hydro price by 10- 20 percent to get to “the middle of the pack”! But as we have seen-their 25 percent reduction may actually end up as a modest INCREASE over 2015 prices thanks to that former bi monthly distribution charge now being charged every month!)

The Toronto and Ottawa rates were lower than in San Francisco (31.05); Detroit (20.24); Boston (27.69) and New York (29.52).

Thus, according to Hydro Quebec’s major cities’ survey, Ontario’s residential electricity rates are the highest in Canada and only in the mid-range when you add in American cities.

(And this estimate may be optimistic depending on how LIE-berals roll out their alleged 25 percent possible reduction! MORE LIE-beral news may skew the numbers yet again! And ofc course there is the HUGE QUESTION of what will happen in 2018 if LIE-berals win the next election? If the 55 percent of cdns who sleep through elections continue their non participation and allow another eldction to be hijacked by civil service Hogs then there will be No stopping LIE-berals as they price gouge to their hearts content! 2019 may be the year Ontari-owe goes stony broke thanks to LIE-beral vote buying!)

An accurate statement in Sousa’s Empire Club speech regarding hydro was that the system needed upgrading when the Liberals came into power in 2003 because of past neglect by governments of all stripes, including Liberals.

But much of it was firmly in the realm of alternative facts and fake news.

lgoldstein at postmedia
 
pgs

pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
28,506
8,110
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B.C.
spilledthebeer said:
THE ONLY ENVIRONMENT LIE-BERALS ARE INTERESTED IN IS THEIRS! AND THEY DECREE IT MUST BE LOADED WITH GRAVY_ FROM CARBON CRAP AND TRADE SCAMS!

LIE-berals have suckered Cdns on the crap and trade- but the trick has been exposed and now LIE-berals face voter outrage- LIE-berals have badly over estimated their ability to calm the public with carbon crap!

 Here is an article illustrating how LIE-berals use fake news- FOR THEIR benefit and OUR cost! With some comments of my own in brackets):

Wynne and Liberals excel at fake news

By Lorrie Goldstein, Toronto Sun. First posted: Saturday, April 15, 2017 07:54 PM EDT | Updated: Saturday, April 15, 2017 08:02 PM EDT

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and her cabinet ministers excel at alternative facts and fake news.

The latest example was Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s speech Thursday to The Empire Club, part of which boasted about how the Liberals saved Ontario’s electricity system by doing the heavy lifting needed to improve it.

As a result, Sousa said, Ontario’s electricity grid is now “the envy of North America” because the Liberals restored “integrity and reliability” to it, unlike neighbouring Canadian provinces and the rust belt states.

Simply put, what on Earth is Sousa talking about?

Hydro One controls the transmission of electricity through 29,000 km of hydro lines in Ontario and provides electricity to 1.3 million customers.

In her December, 2015 annual report, Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said between 2010 and 2014, Hydro One customers experienced 24% more power outages, lasting 30% longer, while costs to run the system increased by 31%.

She described Hydro One as “consistently one of the least reliable among large Canadian electricity distributors”.

(LIE-berals scoff at anything Lysysk says these days about electricity- IN SPITE of it being LIE-berals who hired her away from Manitoba Hydro! Sounds like she IS equipped to comment on our electrical system in spite of those LIE-beral smears to the contrary!)

She said its maintenance backlog increased by 47% and power outages by 7%, between 2012 and 2014.

(This maintenance backlog grew in spite of MASSIVE INCREASES in the cost of electricity. I have said before that it looks like LIE-berals are using the Hydro file as a massive slush fund- dipping into Hydro cash to fund other pet projects-with NOBODY ALLOWED to look into Hydro books that have been CLOSED since LIE-berals sold part of the system to their FRIENDS!)

Lysyk reported the risk of power failures was increasing because Hydro One hadn’t replaced $4.5 billion in transmission assets, “that have exceeded their planned useful service life”.

(Example-the explison and fire in the Hydro transformer outside 20 King St. West in Toronto that left much of the financial district shut down-how would you like to be on the 50th floor when things go dark?)

In 2014, former Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin reported that trying to get straight answers out of Hydro One on its horrendous customer billing practices, following complaints by 10,000 customers, was like, “wrestling with a slippery pig”.

He said Hydro One had issued more than 100,000 incorrect bills, covering everything from unexplained billings, to “catch-up” bills, “estimated” bills, multiple bills and over-billing.

Wynne is now selling 60% of Hydro One to the private sector, putting it beyond the scrutiny of the auditor general and ombudsman.

Sousa said the government now realizes electricity rates are too high, which is why its cutting them by a total of 25% in June -by increasing the province’s debt to subsidize them.

(But the FIX may be in with this- if LIE-berals cut GENERATING COSTS then it will only affect a PORTION of our bills! To get a true 25 percent reduction they will also need to cut distribution costs as well. AND they have set us up to make it easy to reduce costs by going to MONTHLY billing- WHILE KEEPING the bi- monthly distribution costs-which amounts to a ONE THIRD INCREASE in price for the switch to monthly billing- talk about a windfall profit! If LIE-berals proceed with their price “reductions” as I fear then that 25 percent reduction may actually be an INCREASE of 10- 20 percent over what we paid in 2015! With “help” like this its no wonder LIE-berals have become HATED by Cdns!)

While Sousa didn’t mention it, prior to this announcement, the Liberals claimed electricity pricing in Ontario was in the middle of the pack compared to Canada and the US.

Hydro Quebec does an annual comparison of electricity rates in major cities, standardized for a monthly consumption of 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh), with all prices in Canadian currency.

Its 2016 survey found electricity prices for residential customers in Toronto of 17.81 cents per kilowatt/hour and in Ottawa of 16.15 cents per kilowatt/hour.

That was higher than in Vancouver -10.70; Calgary- 10.40; Edmonton- 10.37; Regina- 14.65; Winnipeg- 8.43; Montreal- 7.23; Halifax- 15.88; Moncton- 12.50; Charlottetown- 16.02; St. John’s- 11.96; Seattle- 13.62; Portland- 13.94; Chicago- 15.19; Nashville- 14.28; Houston- 11.25 and Miami- 11.67.

(OH my-YET MORE REASONS to call them LIE-berals! They would have to GENUINELY drop their hydro price by 10- 20 percent to get to “the middle of the pack”! But as we have seen-their 25 percent reduction may actually end up as a modest INCREASE over 2015 prices thanks to that former bi monthly distribution charge now being charged every month!)

The Toronto and Ottawa rates were lower than in San Francisco (31.05); Detroit (20.24); Boston (27.69) and New York (29.52).

Thus, according to Hydro Quebec’s major cities’ survey, Ontario’s residential electricity rates are the highest in Canada and only in the mid-range when you add in American cities.

(And this estimate may be optimistic depending on how LIE-berals roll out their alleged 25 percent possible reduction! MORE LIE-beral news may skew the numbers yet again! And ofc course there is the HUGE QUESTION of what will happen in 2018 if LIE-berals win the next election? If the 55 percent of cdns who sleep through elections continue their non participation and allow another eldction to be hijacked by civil service Hogs then there will be No stopping LIE-berals as they price gouge to their hearts content! 2019 may be the year Ontari-owe goes stony broke thanks to LIE-beral vote buying!)

An accurate statement in Sousa’s Empire Club speech regarding hydro was that the system needed upgrading when the Liberals came into power in 2003 because of past neglect by governments of all stripes, including Liberals.

But much of it was firmly in the realm of alternative facts and fake news.

lgoldstein at postmedia
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Another good post , keep up the good work .
 
H

Hoid

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 15, 2017
20,408
4
36
Walter said:
No one reads long posts.
Click to expand...
NO one reads your links - especially you.

btw GE is nicely under $13 this morning.

another day another dip another buy

that should bring your GE holdings up to about 20,000 shares by now...?
 
S

spilledthebeer

Executive Branch Member
Jan 26, 2017
9,296
4
36
Bar Sinister said:
Well, PGS does do that. But it is not his fault, he thinks like you do.
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HERE IS A DAMNING INDICTMENT OF THE ELECTRIC CAR BUSINESS:

Here is an article illustrating yet again that LIE-berals are not clever enough to run a chip truck at a profit- not even if you gave them the chips for free! With some comments of my own in brackets):

Ontario's electric car charge station 'screw up'

By Jenny Yuen. Published: January 28, 2018. Updated: February 20, 2018 10:59 PM EST

Filed Under: Toronto SUN/ News/ Ontario

Delays in installation. Complaints of broken machines and bad customer service.

(Its a nice thing to be right: I have said before that LIE-berals would offer up electric vehicle charging stations free or cheap to their pals- and how about that- the first batch went into the MaRS building that was at the centre of a LIE-beral spending and waste scandal a while back! And more at the Manulife Centre as well. Oh, and there are privately owned electric chargers in Metro Centre and at the TD Bank towers down town! Great- just MORE Hog entitlements that WE get to pay for but are not allowed to use! And its not as if bankers or insurance companies need a LOT MORE of our money now is it?)

Two years after Ontario’s Liberal government introduced a province-wide program to expand electric vehicle use, the program is being called “a screw-up” by some users and “a failure” by those in the electric vehicle industry.

(Electric car makers have a vested interest in seeing cheap, reliable chargers made available for public convenience car makers calling the LIE-beral program a “failure” is a damning indictment!)

Called the EVCO program — Electric Vehicle Chargers Ontario — the Liberals announced plans in 2016 to spend $20 million on a network of 500 charging stations for electric vehicles across the province. The goal of the network was to “enable EV drivers to travel between and within cities,” boost electric car sales and “fight climate change.”

“By investing in charging infrastructure that is fast, reliable and affordable, we are encouraging more Ontarians to purchase electric vehicles, reducing greenhouse gas pollution and keeping our air clean,” then-transportation minister Steven Del Duca said at the time.

(Yes- LIE-berals had previously speculated it would be a good idea to instal charging stations outside LCBO and govt offices- but the optics are not so good- tax payers would be unhappy about seeing civil service Hogs getting wonderful tax subsidies to buy electric vehicles and then getting MORE tax subsidies to charge their ride while at work or while picking up their plonk at the LCBO! It just wouldnt look to good in this time of soaring debt to be giving Hogs too many freebies at tax payer expense- LIE-berals will have to wait till after the election!)

But instead of the reliable, affordable network of charging stations, just over half the charging stations (55%) that were supposed to be constructed by March 2017 have been built, 55% of the new charging stations are concentrated in downtown Toronto and the GTA — which is already saturated with charging stations — instead of on provincial highways between cities where the Liberals said they were needed.

(LIE-berals SAY a lot of things- but reality dictates that electric car owners generally only commute to work with their costly machines- they MUST stick to known routes so that sudden traffic or weather trouble does not strand them some place too far from a plug- this is the great flaw in electric cars- refueling time- often in an hours long wait- is hugely awkward! The number of electric cars travelling between cities will remain SMALL for many years to come!)

(Nor do LIE-berals want to discuss the drastic reduction in range that results from cold weather affecting batteries and LIE-berals also refuse to talk about the further reduction in range that comes from running headlights, windshield wipers and especially the heater/defroster in cold weather! Electric car battery range is set in warm weather under ideal conditions that to often do not exist here in Canada- statements about electric car range are as reliable as LIE-beral promises! Who wants to be stuck on 401 after one of those big winter pile ups that block the road for hours- with your heater OFF and you freezing because your battery is running low and cops are sending you on some long detour- miles away from a car charger?)

According to customers, government-funded charging stations frequently sit unused, the government lacks the ability to track how often or whether they are used and some users complain those in service are frequently broken and in disrepair.

(AS with so many other issues that LIE-berals “fail” to track- the reality is that LIE-berals DO NOT want to know the answers! LIE-berals are PRETENDING to care about the environment for political reasons and promoting electric cars that nobody except some eccentric millionaires will ever buy suits LIE-berals fine!)

Paul Raszewski, founder of the Toronto Electric Vehicle Association, says the EVCO program has been a “screw-up” ever since the Ontario government awarded the 57% lion’s share of the contract – worth $11.4 million – to KSI, a relatively unknown Mississauga green energy firm.

“Since then, there have been a lot of delays installing those locations. Some of them still have not been completed and those that have, there are issues with them,” Raszewski said.

(So- should we assume that KSI is owned by LIE-beral pals of the same sort that got snow plowing contracts even though they did not own equipment suitable to plow our roads in contract specified time frame? Or is this simple incompetence- of the sort on display with that pedestrian bridge built upside down in Pickering- by a contractor who had never built a bridge before? Its not as if LIE-berals have never made such mistakes in the past- one has only to think of all the steel bridge girders made for 401 highway over pass work and then discarded because unskilled contractors screwed up the welding! Or the Nippissing highway bridge that buckled in a few months of use- after being built by a Spanish company that had never worked in a frost heaved zone before!)

“They’re not being serviced properly, some of them are malfunctioning and when people call the number, they say they’ll respond within 48 hours and when someone’s stuck out there with no charge — in -41C weather — obviously members are very upset by that. The government is not responding, so I guess they’re putting their tails between their legs and not commenting on it. I think they now know they screwed up.”

(Ah- we do enjoy quality work in Ontari-owe- just look at the success of Presto- the TTC pass card readers- critics warned when rhe system was chosen- that it was the most expensive and unreliable and least proven system available- but LIE-berals knew better- and now installation of Presto readers has been “suspended”!)

And it didn’t make sense, Raszewski said, for the province to put 55% of the new EVCO chargers within the GTA and 45% outside without data to prove more downtown chargers were even necessary.

There is already a saturation of privately-operated chargers downtown, he said. Where chargers are actually needed are along stretches of highway outside of the Toronto area and in apartments and condos.

(I suggest that most of the comment about where charging stations are needed is crap! Nobody really knows where new chargers will be needed because nobody knows what will happen to the electric car market in coming years! Certainly, the next govt of Ontari-owe will have bigger fiscal problems to deal with than fussing over electric cars- meaning LIE-beral subsidies killed off! Ontari-owe is the most indebted sub national entity on the planet- only the PIGS- Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain are more broke than Ontari-owe! Who killed the electric car? LIE-BERALS DID- with their insane tax and spend madness! The next govt will NOT have money for frills!)
 
DaSleeper

DaSleeper

Trolling Hypocrites
May 27, 2007
33,676
1,666
113
Northern Ontario,
captain morgan said:
Not surprising that the facilities in place required to service the EVs are being held up.

So much for the utopian dream of getting rid of oil
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When Flossy and Waldo buy an electric car.........


 
taxslave

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
36,362
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As long as those electric busses stay on the trolley lines all will be fine. 200 K wouldn't even get me to work and back. Totally useless.
 
G

Gilgamesh

Council Member
Nov 15, 2014
1,112
63
48
Hoid said:
Vancouver's Translink buying 4 electric buses - 200 km on full charge - minutes to recharge

How TransLink will supercharge E-bus batteries in 5 minutes | CBC News


Porshe going all in on electric, will create a super charger grid of 500stations in America, 189 at dealers and the rest on the highway.

20 minute charge

https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/16/porsche-will-build-network-of-500-fast-ev-chargers-in-us/
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No matter what claims are made you cannot charge them in minutes. Maybe 90 minutes using very expensive water cooled cables.
 
G

Gilgamesh

Council Member
Nov 15, 2014
1,112
63
48
captain morgan said:
High capacity charging stations would require cryogenic applications to operate efficiently and safely.

Those individual stations would cost in the range of $100k to install
Click to expand...
And that would be per individual charger.

In addition each station needs a power source and the electrical grid couldnt supply it.
 
S

spilledthebeer

Executive Branch Member
Jan 26, 2017
9,296
4
36
Hoid said:
Super chargers are minutes.

In 10 years it will be seconds.
Click to expand...

Thank you Hoid for proving my point and reminding me of previous electric vehicle FAILURES! AS I have said- the ENTIRE ELECTRIC VEHICLE BIZ WOULD DIE WITHOUT LIE-BERAL SUBSIDIES!

Consider: For those who think that a LIE-beral created electric car business might somehow be good for us- I offer up this older article as rebuttal. With some comments of my own in brackets):

TTC hybrid bus batteries losing their power

Globe and Mail/ Jeff Gray Toronto City Hall Reporter/ Published May 16, 2008
Updated March 27, 2017

The box-like batteries on top of the Toronto Transit Commission's brand new and premium-priced hybrid electric-diesel buses are lasting only half as long as their manufacturer promised.

(So there is the first LIE- that electric vehicles will be reliable!)

They were supposed to last five years, but about a third of the lead-acid battery cells in use in the current fleet of 275 hybrids - which started arriving in 2006 - have already worn out, Gary Webster, the TTC's chief general manager, said in an interview.

(And why use lead acid batteries instead of lithium? Lets guess and suggest that lead-acid will not hold as large a charge as lithium but it will hold it longer- such as when a device is only intermittently used- and lead-acid is probably more resistant to cold than lithium!)

The battery failures come on top of TTC testing that has shown the buses are producing just half the expected fuel savings, using just 10 per cent instead of 20 to 30 per cent less diesel than a conventional bus, although TTC officials expect this number to improve.

(So there is there next LIE! The usual extravagant promises of advertisers that LIE-berals want us to swallow- along with the cost over runs!)

Still, Mr. Webster defends the decision to buy the Orion VII hybrids - which cost $734,000, compared with $500,000 for a conventional bus. He says the TTC and the manufacturer, Daimler Buses North America, are trying to sort out the battery problem, which is covered by the warranty and not costing the TTC money.

(OH! TYPICAL LIE-beral value for money- a fifty percent higher price and drastically reduced performance- what a BARGAIN! And sadly it’s a better deal than electric cars which cost TWICE as much as gas cars!)

"We think the hybrid bus is a good bus. That's the bottom line for us. It's got some issues, absolutely," Mr. Webster said. "... We think we're going to address these issues."

(And others think Webster is dreaming in technicolour about fixing a mess created by inadequate technology being asked to go beyond its natural capacity!)

By year's end, the TTC will have 564 hybrid buses - making up about a third of its bus fleet - with much of the cost of buying them covered by the federal and provincial governments in funding that mandated buses using alternative fuels. Within five years, close to half of the TTC's fleet is scheduled to have hybrid engines.

(AS I have said before- THE ONLY REASON WE HAVE an electric vehicle “industry” is due to LIE-beral bribery of that business! Every time LIE-berals meddle in business for political reasons- huge bills and public failure follow!)

But Adam Giambrone, the city councillor who chairs the TTC, said the battery problems mean the jury is still out on whether the buses were a good investment: "We're still formulating our opinion on the hybrids."

(The jury is “still out” regarding the busses says Giambrone? CLEARLY ONLY LIE-berals are on that jury! Tax payers HAVE decided already! Giambrone later got fired as TTC chair and the David Miller govt that supported him was defeated in a subsequent election!)

He said the hybrid engine could be a "transitional technology" and that down the road, electric buses could come onto the market, or the TTC could, on busier routes, even return to using trolley buses - powered by overhead wires like streetcars - which it abandoned in the 1990s.

(Apparently “transitional technology ” is LIE-beral speak meaning “ we will go ahead with this mess regardless of public disgust and we will ignore public opinion for selfish political reasons!)

Mr. Webster said yesterday that New York has had some similar problems with its fleet of Orion VII hybrids.

(In other words- TTC brass KNEW there would be trouble with the vehicles due to reports from New York City- and yet they chose to forge ahead anyway- buying vehicles that cost FIFTY PERCENT MORE than older vehicles and with the new vehicles seriously lacking in mechanical reliability! This is political meddling on a fantastic and utterly disgraceful scale! The ONLY defense LIE-berals offer us is this: “don’t worry- we are dreaming of a brighter future in which we MAY do better in some future time”!)

But Jake Keyes, a spokesman for Daimler, which runs the former Orion Bus Industries plant in Mississauga where the buses are partly manufactured, said the battery problem was specific to Toronto's buses and has not occurred with its other hybrid buses running in New York and San Francisco.

(The battery problem is unique to Toronto? How so? Did TTC ask for technical changes? Or did Daimler make changes on its own to reduce the price to make the busses more appealing for the Toronto market- did they make battery changes that made unique trouble for Toronto busses? Sounds like public relations advertising and B.S. artists are hard at work to protect LIE-berals and electric vehicle image here!)

The company's newer models include a different, lithium-ion battery that Mr. Keyes said lasts longer, but Mr. Webster said the TTC is not convinced the new battery will fix its problem.

"... We've said to them, 'Happy to consider it, but you've got to prove to us these things actually function,' " he said.

(Proof is very definitely needed at this time! Especially as lithium batteries likely cost more than lead-acid? But that is a hallmark of “emerging” technology- up selling the dis-satisfied customer with new and improved promises until either the customer gives up and shops elsewhere or the company producing the technology goes bankrupt!)

(And here it is ten years on since the first battery busses went into operation- anybody curious how many are still on the road? LIE-berals do not say! And yet we STILL operate electric street cars that are over 50 years old!)

It is common for transit agencies to run into kinks with new vehicles, and the TTC has had problems before, including with vehicles running on compressed natural gas that it bought from Orion Bus Industries in the 1990s.

It has had to scrap 50 of those buses and convert another 50 to diesel, after engine problems, potentially leaky gas tanks and other complaints.

(TTC brass have dealt with and been RIPPED OFF by Orion in the past? AND still TTC bought the latest B.S? Just how bankrupt is Toronto that they would close their eyes and blindly forge ahead secure in the knowledge that it is ONLY federal transfer funding they are WASTING on shaky Orion promises?)

The TTC blames its hybrid buses' fuel-economy problems on the fact that they are being used more on suburban high-speed routes, where hybrid engines are less efficient.

(And NOBODY thought to ASK if suburban high speed routes were suitable for these delicate electric busses with their myriad mechanical shortcomings?)

Once more of the buses are running on stop-and-go congested routes downtown, Mr. Webster says, their fuel economy numbers should go up as the bus can rely more on the electric power it creates with its regenerative braking system.

(IN other words Rube Goldberg just took over management of the faulty and over delicate machinery! HAHAHAHA!!! Busses are supposed to go where the passengers are- NOT where its handy for limited technology to operate! But this IS the LIE-beral version of reality- in socialist eyes it’s the stupid passengers who line up in wrong places that are behind the bus failures! It is NOT the fault of weak and limited technology- so LIE-berals will INSIST!)

The fuel-economy problems, which likely cost the TTC $1.3-million this year, are a small part of what is expected to be a massive rise in diesel costs as a fixed-price contract for fuel runs out at the end of this year.

The TTC estimates that its fuel bill could go to $97-million next year from $65-million this year, and Mr. Webster has said the transit agency may even consider a "fuel surcharge" for riders.

(IN other words TTC took a desperate gamble- betting on the battery busses with their KNOWN limitations in hope that the busses would perform better in Toronto than in New York! This is the usual LIE-beral dilemma- the price of fuel is rising and public tolerance for socialist spendaholics is fading- while socialist politicians NEED more gravy for their Hog allies! So they ganlbed and bought huegly expensive busses in desperate hope that they could save some fuel costs and thus have gravy to pass on to Hogs!)

(And there is ALL of LIE-beral policy and planning in a nutshell- just as self proclaimed and staunch LIE-beral supporter Peter Newman said in his book “When The Gods Changed” that details LIE-beral political fortunes after the Chretien era! LIE-beral pal Newman told us the modern LIE-beral party had no significant values, no real policy, no guiding pricniples or morals- all they now have is a huge lust for power and a conviction they are entitled to be the ruling power! This is why LIE-berals can shrug off the costs of all manner of financial disasters they have thrown on us! LIE-berals are convinced they ARE ENTITLED to over rule us whenever they feel like it! And anybody who disagrees is some sort of racist! Based on current evidence the future will NOT be battery powered!)
 
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