THE MORNING RANT: Periodic Roundup of the EV Follies – 01/30/2026

The Climate Punishments Are Visited Upon the Children

Among the most ludicrous sacraments of climate cultists is the abolition of gas and diesel powered school buses in favor of electric buses. It’s children who pay the price, because EV school buses have limited range, an inability to function properly in dangerously cold weather, and a proclivity to burst into flames at any moment.

Along the shores of Lake Erie in upstate New York, school kids have been denied heat on their school bus rides. The buses’ electric batteries don’t have enough of a charge to cover their routes while also providing heat in sub-freezing weather.

“Parents raise concerns over heat issues in electric school buses in Lake Shore Central School District” [WIVB – 12/18/2025]

On the heels of a statewide mandate requiring all school bus purchases in New York State be electric by 2027, parents in the Lake Shore Central School District are speaking out, claiming some bus drivers are turning the heat down, or off completely, in an attempt to conserve battery life on their electric school buses.

The kids are coming home saying their bus is freezing cold and the parents are giving them hand warmers. “The heaters on the bus run off the same electricity as the bus itself,” said Scott Ziobro, a former school board candidate and parent who has children who go to school in the district. “They were told that it drains the battery capacity of the bus itself.”

Meanwhile across the country in Los Angeles: “Electric school bus catches fire in Los Angeles, driver hospitalized” [KTLA – 12/10/2025]

The header picture is the electric Blue Bird school bus that spontaneously combusted into a runaway thermal fire. Fortunately, no children were on the bus. Unfortunately, the driver of the bus had to be hospitalized. A short video of the fire is below. The high priests of the Climate Church are more than willing to sacrifice your children in such a conflagration to appease their angry climate God.

Blue Bird’s electric buses were subsequently recalled for loose electrical cables: “Manufacturer behind LAUSD's electric school buses issues voluntary recall” [NBC Los Angeles – 01/23/2026]

I have previously written about how Blue Bird has abandoned traditional market capitalism for a form of corporate communism, in which the government taxes citizens and redistributes the confiscated wealth to favored enterprises. Specifically, Blue Bird received an $80 million grant from the federal government during the Biden administration to manufacture electric buses. This was not for the purchase of buses - it was just an $80 million handout. On top of that, the government also granted billions of dollars to school districts to buy electric school buses. At $375k per bus, that was about three times the price of normal school buses. Blue Bird received hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue, which was all redistributed from taxpayers and passed through school districts to Blue Bird by the federal government. And like any communist command-and-control manufacturer, Blue Bird’s school buses are about as functional as Soviet-era Trabants and Ladas.

Park Your Electric Volvo Car Bomb EX30 Safely Away from Structures

Do electric car buyers find it prestigious to receive a notification that their EV is such an unstable bomb that it must be parked outside and far away from structures? I hope they do, because that seems to be part of the ownership experience for EVs manufactured by legacy auto companies.

Volvo is the latest legacy auto manufacturer to warn its EV customers that their product is so dangerous that it cannot be parked in a garage. Even worse, the range of a fully charged EX30 is stated at about 250 miles, but Volvo is now warning that it is dangerous to charge the battery more than 70%, reducing the range to about 175 miles, at best, in ideal weather conditions.

“Faulty Chinese Batteries Could Set Your Electric Volvo on Fire” [Auto Blog – 01/13/2026]

If you own a 2025 Volvo EX30, the Swedish automaker wants you to park your subcompact crossover outside due to a fire risk. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently announced a recall for the EV after it was determined that some examples of the EX30 have high-voltage batteries potentially susceptible to short-circuiting and overheating. Thus, owners are advised to “park outside and away from structures and limit their charge to a maximum of 70% until the recall repair is complete.”

Volkswagen’s Cascading EV Woes

As I wrote about recently, the Tennessee-built Volkswagen ID.4 is the slowest selling car in the United States, and production has been suspended. Though unwanted and unnecessary, the electric ID.4 was at least capable of fulfilling its basic role as a commuter car.

But VW has also been marketing another EV in the U.S. that is another massive flop – an electric camper van called the ID.Buzz that is an homage to the VW Microbus of decades past. But unlike the inexpensive Microbus, the modern electric camper van has such limited range between charges that wilderness camping is off limits. If you want to go camping in an ID.Buzz, the best place to do so is in your own driveway, since even in perfect weather conditions, the range is barely 200 miles.

“VW Cancels ID. Buzz For 2026 As Dealers Warn It Might Be Over” [CarScoops – 12/19/2025]

A Volkswagen spokesperson confirmed the situation to Carscoops, stating, “Following a careful assessment of current EV market conditions, we have made the strategic decision not to move forward with [model year 2026] ID. Buzz production for the U.S. market.”

Volkswagen produced a $60k EV camper van that does not have the range to go into the wilderness for camping. Who’d have guessed it would fail?

This is definitely going in my next “Roundup of the EV Follies” at Ace’s place. https://t.co/jtG3npxGdX

— Buck Throckmorton (@BuckThrockmort) December 19, 2025

Stellantis Pulls the Plug on Jeep’s Electric Plug-In Hybrids

Of correspondence I’ve received from readers who know of someone with an EV that spontaneously burst into flames, Jeep plug-in hybrids have been the most common subject. While there is no EV I would allow in my garage, the Jeep plug-in has been so notorious for its runaway thermal fires that I wouldn’t even allow one of them in my driveway.

Stellantis (the owner of Dodge / Chrysler / Jeep) is finally “pulling the plug” on this troubled product line.

“The Plug-In Hybrid Jeep Wrangler And Grand Cherokee Are Dead” [Inside EVs – 01/08/2025]

They were some of the best-selling PHEVs in the U.S., but the Jeeps in particular had quality issues and faced numerous recalls. In November, Jeep recalled its PHEVs over a battery issue and warned owners not to park inside or charge their vehicles until a fix became available.

Jeep has a great reputation that it has harmed with its failed EV efforts. It is an embarrassment that it is telling its customers who paid a premium for plug-in capability that they cannot now use that plug-in feature because it might burn their houses down. Refocusing on building great gasoline-powered SUVs would go a long way toward rehabilitating the damage done to the iconic brand.

Chinese EVs

There is a lot of hype about Chinese EVs, but I doubt they’d get traction in this country, even if they could somehow conform to US vehicle homologation requirements. As I wrote recently at The American Spectator, the Chinese market grab in Mexico has been with government-subsidized gas powered vehicles, not EVs.

Europe, on the other hand, has coerced its citizens to buy EVs, and China has gobbled up much of the mandated market share. Buyer’s remorse is growing:

@BuckThrockmort
More fun with Chinese EVs.
I'm sure their batteries are built to the same standards as their door locks. https://t.co/lraQighLh6

— Arthur Kimes (@ComradeArthur) January 13, 2026

Even if your Chinese EV doesn’t lock you in against your will, there’s a high probability that it is a spy-mobile in service to the Chinese communist government.

It’s almost treasonous that European governments are buying electric vehicles from China:

“Hundreds of British buses have Chinese ‘kill switch’” [The Standard – 01/04/2026]

Hundreds of state-of-the-art electric buses operating across Britain could be remotely switched off by China due to a "kill switch" in their batteries, security services have discovered.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:15 AM

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