Tipsheet

What Happened on an Electric Google Bus Was Laughably Predictable

Electric vehicles are the future, says the car industry. It’s why they’ve poured billions into research and development to roll out a line of electric cars that no one wants. Ford has lost billions with this silly vanity project that only the wealthy can afford. The cost of the electric vehicle, plus buying two charging stations—one for the workplace and the other for your home—and upgrading one’s residential power grid is too costly for most working families. It’s a $100,000-plus purchase, and it’s laughably unreliable. 

Once the cold and snow hit, the batteries’ charge degrades exponentially to the point where trips that aren’t local shouldn’t even be considered. One man in Canada discovered that the hard way, leading him to declare the electric vehicle craze the greatest scam of the modern era. In San Francisco, a Google bus trip turned chaotic when it lost power going up the steep hills that dot the city. It resulted in a crash that sent one person to the hospital (via KTVU): 


An "electric" shuttle bus operated by Google collided with multiple vehicles in San Francisco on Monday morning, sending one person to a hospital. 

The crash happened near Castro and 20th streets at approximately 8:45 a.m., according to the San Francisco Police Department. 

Multiple vehicles were damaged after the bus collided with them, police said. 

A person inside one of the involved vehicles sustained injuries and was transported to a hospital. The extent of their injuries has not been disclosed. 

The crash was initially reported on Twitter by Xian Ke (@xianke). 

[…] 

Google confirmed that the bus involved is part of the company's shuttle fleet. 

"The safety and wellbeing of everyone involved is our highest priority while we work with local authorities to understand what happened," Google said in an email to KTVU. 

The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Neither the SFPD nor Google explained what caused the collision. 

But according to Ke, the bus lost power while ascending a hill, rolling backwards and smacked into multiple cars. 

A gas-powered bus wouldn’t have led to this crash. That is a fact.