More than half of the buses that shuttle travelers and employees to and from parking lots at Raleigh-Durham International Airport are electric. They seemed like a good fit for the airport — quieter, smoother, cleaner and ostensibly easier to maintain.
But now the electric buses have become a liability. Mechanical problems and the bankruptcy of Proterra, the company that made most of RDU’s electric buses, have made it difficult to keep them on the road.
That has forced the airport to refurbish some of its aging diesel buses. The RDU Airport Authority board voted Thursday to spend up to $4.6 million to extend the life of as many as a dozen diesels. The board also voiced support for buying new diesels in the future, abandoning a goal of converting the entire fleet to electric or zero-emission vehicles…