Commentary by Samuel Strait – May 7, 2022 Recently two separate incidents have occurred, where mass transit buses which were both relatively new and electric powered, caught fire, and exploded. In an effort to be "green" 149 electric buses have been pulled out of service in Paris, France due to these disturbing incidents. Fortunately no one was killed in either accident. This does however; illustrate one of the many problems yet to be resolved when it comes to wholesale conversion from carbon powered vehicles to electricity. Not only is production of electricity still heavily reliant fossil fuels, but battery technology has a ways to go before it becomes reliable, safe, and durable. Despite over decades of technological improvements, batteries, the power to charge them, and the materials to construct them remain issues that prevent wide spread transition to an all EV society. In California, generally the trend setter for many "green" technologies, will likely find this to be the case over the next decade when all the "wishing" for a carbonless future comes to naught. While the simple basis for EV's as an alternate form of transportation may seem heady to the enviro crowd, it cannot be a realistic alternative to fossil based vehicles and other products for the foreseeable future. The cost to buyers of such vehicles remain a formidable challenge for most of the human population. Material to construct the number of vehicles, in particular the batteries, in sufficient numbers produces problems of their own. The ability to dispose of the heart of such systems, the batteries, will become yet another problem in the growing list. For now, one would hope that a certain level of patience were to be inserted in the psychosis of those who wish to run before they have learned how to walk. I suspect that Parisians may just be a little leery of riding Paris' buses for the time being, as the destruction of two electric buses from their batteries put a rather sharp point on the safety of such vehicles going forward. Fortunately, I do not have children that will be riding on the local electric school buses that have now entered the school district's bus fleet. While this problem may be explained away by "manufacturing" defects, EV's have been known to exhibit similar spectacular ends when involved in vehicle crashes. I do not doubt that human genius given the opportunity will develop some form of alternative to much of the carbon base of modern society, we are just not there yet. Stoking the flames of Climate Change hysteria is unlikely to make the issues of "human caused" warming, if it is in fact a serious issue, "go away". As if by waving a magic wand, by resorting to a yet to be developed fully alternative technology is naive at best, dangerous as the Parisians have found.