National recall on electric buses prompts City to pull fleet off Oahu roads

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - All 17 of Oahu’s new electric buses are off the roads due to a recall over potential leaks in the cooling system, city officials said Tuesday.

The manufacturer of Honolulu’s Electric TheBus fleet issued the notice to all vehicles nationwide, however they didn’t advise that affected electric buses be pulled from service.

Other transit systems on the mainland are still using similar vehicles.

Meanwhile, the City Department of Transportation decided to pull the electric buses off the roads in an “abundance of caution.”

In a statement, they said:

DTS has not had any troubles with any of the 17 E-V buses in the Honolulu fleet, but has taken them off the roadways in an abundance of caution until inspections can be completed on each vehicle.

The city said no issues have been reported but they’re inspecting the fleet just to be sure.

Repairs on each bus will take about two days and they’ll be put back into service once finished, officials said.

There will be no impact to routes or ridership.

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