Electric buses powered by propane generators underscore failures of rushed climate mandates

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance is drawing attention to reports that the Nantucket Regional Transit Authority is using propane-powered generators to charge its new fleet of electric buses, raising serious questions about planning, cost effectiveness, and the environmental claims behind the transition.

According to the Nantucket Current, the transit authority has relied on propane generators due to delays in electrical infrastructure and facility limitations for two years. The generators, which emit greenhouse gases and pollutants, undercut the emissions reductions cited as the key justification for the costly shift to electric vehicles.

“This situation perfectly illustrates what happens when political mandates and virtue signaling take priority over practical planning and fiscal responsibility. Taxpayers were promised clean, efficient transit, yet officials rushed toward electric buses without the infrastructure needed to operate them. Now taxpayers are funding a Rube Goldberg scheme where electric buses are being powered by propane generators, exposing the gap between ideologically driven political promises and operational reality,” said Paul Diego Craney, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.

“Purchasing expensive electric buses without the capacity to charge them is not leadership. It is burning taxpayer dollars. Unless Beacon Hill ensures grid readiness before expanding these mandates, communities across Massachusetts will see the same costly virtue signaling failure now confronting the Nantucket Regional Transit Authority,” said Craney.

MassFiscal warned that similar planning failures will occur across the Commonwealth as state mandates accelerate the electrification of public and private vehicles while ignoring the cost, infrastructure, and reliability challenges required to power this transition. A transition to electric powered transportation is only as clean as the power it runs on and throwing money and mandates at a complex and unreliable transportation option doesn’t make much sense.

“Massachusetts residents deserve policies grounded in engineering reality and fiscal prudence. Beacon Hill must stop imposing one-size-fits-all mandates and start focusing on affordability, reliability, and the practical needs of its citizens,” closed Craney.