The bus wars are over. Electricity -- and China -- won.

[ffr]

China has 421,000 electric buses. The United States has 300.



Thanks to China’s massive investment in and support for electric buses, electrics are now racing past a 50% share of new bus sales worldwide, according to a recent analysis by Bloomberg NEF (BNEF). - ThinkProgress

Making China Great Again while Red Hats only think that America's future lies in fossil fueled transportation.

[BBG]

1. San Francisco has 300 alone

Seattle has 174. The article understates US electric bus penetration.

[lunatica]

2. Yes. Solid blue and progressive states are doing the right thing.

The governors of solid blue states opted to honor the Paris Agreement in spite of Trump backing out of it.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Climate_Alliance

The United States Climate Alliance is a bipartisan coalition of states and unincorporated self-governing territories in the United States that are committed to upholding the objectives of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change within their borders, by achieving the U.S. goal of reducing greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide equivalent) economy-wide emissions 26–28% from 2005 levels by 2025[4] and meeting or exceeding the targets of the federal Clean Power Plan.

United States Climate Alliance

The Alliance was formed on June 1, 2017, following the announcement earlier that day by U.S. President Donald Trump that he had decided to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. The Alliance also forms a forum for its members to further develop and strengthen their existing Climate Action Plans, through sharing of information and best practices.

As of April 29, 2019, the 23 members of the Alliance make up 50% of the U.S. population and over 50% of U.S. GDP as of 2016.[1][2] After excluding Puerto Rico figures from the emission total, the members' combined share of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions was 25.51% in 2014.[5]

[hunter]

3. They're talking about battery powered buses...

... not the kind powered by overhead wires.

Battery powered buses can be "better than diesel" or utterly evil depending upon the battery chemistry, the recycling infrastructure, and even the magnets used in the motors.

[displacedtexan]

4. And our SF buses that aren't total electric are hybrids.

Thanks for correcting that article.

[hunter]

5. Our city, like many, uses compressed natural gas fueled buses which may be just as well...

... since gas is also the primary source of our electricity.

Gas is much better than the black cloud belching diesel fueled buses I remember from my youth.

Another interesting alternative fuel is Dimethyl Ether (DME) which is currently manufactured from natural gas, but could be made in a variety of ways, even from carbon dioxide in the ocean given a suitable energy source. DME is very similar to propane in distribution and handling.

Here's a large report on DME from the University of California:

https://www.arb.ca.gov/fuels/multimedia/meetings/DMETierIReport_Feb2015.pdf

Here's a commercial company promoting DME fuels:

http://oberonfuels.com/

I'm not a huge fan of battery powered vehicles and I won't be until they find less obnoxious alternatives to cobalt and many of the rare earth metals used in them.

https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2018/05/africa/congo-cobalt-dirty-energy-intl/