"As Illinois Democrats welcome their party’s national convention next month, one of their crown jewels for environmental activism — an electric school bus factory — is fighting for its life." Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Illinois Budget’s New Taxes Face Serious Constitutional Challenges
June 12, 2026
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Audio and summary linked here.
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A mess of uncertainty and litigation is sure to follow.
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
Bring back the trolley buses. They worked for decades.
https://chicagohistorytoday.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/the-last-trolley-bus-in-chicago-3-24-1973/
Comments in the link have many stories about the trolleys.
Had them here in downstate as well often carrying the Illinois Terminal System nametag and who could forget the electrified high speed rail lines we had with trains headed up by engines like the legendary GG1s?
Closer to home, we had the finest electric railroad in the country, the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee, until January of 1963. We still have the South Shore, soon to be going all the way to Dyer on the old Monon. Attractiveness of working in the Loop aside, there are two issues with this type of operation. One, the cost to string wire is prohibitive. Two, the pollution savings of said electrification is relatively light, since the diesel exhaust is exchanged for coal exhaust. Three, winter operations in electrified territory brings such fun as wire breaks, although that mainly applied… Read more »
I don’t know if you or anybody remembers the old CTA electric buses that ran I think until 1960 61.
Electric buses create lots of good talking points for politicians, theoretical benefits for the climate nuts, wonderful environmental anecdotes for the pundits and rainbow colored dreams for urban little kids. And that’s about all. The problem is, they just don’t work. Mechanically unreliable. Range estimates not even close to reality, especially in cold climates. And premature battery burnout way higher than promised. Just a heartbreaking waste of money for city governments that are already stretched to the limit. And if it weren’t for the state and federal subsidies you would never see one on the road.
Maybe we will. Someday. Only IF the market demands it. This religion-induced demand is not helping weed out the technologies that are simply impractical or imprudent.
Either way, the climate will not be affected by any of these vehicle choices, despite the Clerics’ chanting and the stenographers singing along.
Why is everyone so worried, Pritzker will just give them another 700 800 million in taxpayers money to bail them out or shore them up, just being sarcastic but I wouldn’t put it past Springfield to do so.
Ah yes. Yet another article taking at face value the Climate Clerics’ chant of ‘hottest ever’. Like many devout climate believers, stenographer John Lippert takes at face value Clerics’ claims that the 1920’s and 1930’s simply didn’t exist as far as temperatures go. Pathetic, John. Do a little homework and you’ll find the whole Climate religion is a sham. But I digress. No one wants these electric buses. Why? Too expensive, even with the idiotically thrown about subsidies courtesy of the taxpayers. These things cost big bucks. In Illinois, pension payments make up an ever-larger share of school budget spending.… Read more »
https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/kamala-harris-touted-a-5b-electric-school-bus-program-three-years-later-its-produced-just-60-buses/
Kamala Wala Bala strikes out again and taxpayers get the bill for her boondoggle. Sound familiar?
Add to that the billions spent to build out charging stations with only a few stations actually built
Government mandates are mostly unconstitutional..
If they originate without specific legislation, yes indeed.
The wheels of a Lion Electric bus don’t go round n round………
The lies continue about electric cars, buses and trucks. All three do not work when it’s to
Cold or to hot period!
All batteries like 72 degrees F. Above or below and they degrade losing charge,
They also can start fires, via thermal runaway, Wilmington fire?
And still no mention of the Wilmington bus barn fire. Shh..
This whole electric school bus thing, nationally, is a failure. See this new piece on that: https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/kamala-harris-touted-a-5b-electric-school-bus-program-three-years-later-its-produced-just-60-buses/