Harris on Electric Buses: 'Wi-Fi and Even USB Outlets ... Come On, Imagine' (February 9, 2023)

Vice President Kamala Harris toured an electric bus factory in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and came away excited about one feature in particular. “The bus has Wi-Fi and even USB outlets next to every seat. I mean, come on, imagine. You can charge your phone on your way home from work. That’s good stuff,” she told the crowd [1].

The audience laughed as she described being able to charge a phone on the bus, the press pool reported [2]. The video above shows the moment from her Feb. 9, 2023, remarks at New Flyer’s St. Cloud plant, which builds transit buses. Quotes are from the official transcript and pool reports published by the American Presidency Project [1][2].

”Come On, Imagine”

Harris had just walked the factory floor. She met eight union members and toured the plant from start to finish, according to the pool. At a fully finished bus, she asked, “Can I come on board?” and then sat in the driver’s seat while a worker showed her the bus monitor system [2].

On stage, she told the crowd what she had seen. “A few minutes ago, as Matt walked me around, I had the opportunity to take a look at one of the buses that is being built in this factory. It is a model of American innovation. No exhaust. No diesel smell,” she said. Then came the line about Wi-Fi and USB outlets [1].

She said the buses would also save money. “Electric buses are also cheaper to run and more reliable than gas-powered buses,” Harris said, adding that “for anyone who’s had to wait too long in the cold because the bus is late, you know how much that matters” [1].

”Diesel Exhaust Is a Poison”

Harris made the case against the buses most cities run. “The majority of our nation’s buses run on diesel fuel. Well, here’s the thing: Diesel exhaust is a poison,” she said. “Breathing diesel fumes can cause headaches and nausea. It can make asthma and chronic bronchitis worse. And it can even cause a risk for cancer” [1].

“But there is a solution to all of this, and that solution is parked right over there and right over there and right over there,” she said, pointing to the buses behind her. “These buses — electric buses” [1].

She touted the spending behind them. “Since taking office, together with Democrats and Republicans, we have invested over $5.5 billion to put thousands of new electric transit buses on the streets of our nation,” Harris said [1]. A White House official told the pool that the infrastructure law contained roughly $90 billion for transit, at least $5.5 billion of it for clean transit buses, and that Minnesota expected more than $850 million in formula funding over five years [2].

She also claimed big results from what she called “the single-largest investment to fight the climate crisis in history,” made the previous August. “In just the last six months, that investment has already created more than 100,000 clean energy jobs,” she said [1].

”I’m Here to Announce the Shift Change”

Harris opened with a joke. “I’m here to announce the shift change,” she said, to laughter. When a bell rang in the background later in the speech, she worked it in: “So people can have shift changes” [1]. On the tour, looking at a bus still being built, she quipped, “It’s going to Long Beach California,” the pool reported [2].

A Shout-Out to Walz

She saved some of her biggest praise for Minnesota’s governor. “I want to give a shout-out to the Governor, Tim Walz,” Harris said. “He has been a true champion and a partner to the President and our administration, and, in particular, a champion for our climate and for communities.” She noted that he had just signed a law “that will make Minnesota’s electricity 100 percent carbon-free by 2040” [1].

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison warmed up the crowd. “Any environmentalists in the house?” he asked, according to the pool [2].

By the Numbers

$5.5 billion: the money Harris said the administration had put into electric transit buses [1].
About $90 billion: transit funding in the infrastructure law, according to a White House official [2].
More than $850 million: formula transit funding Minnesota expected over five years [2].
About 600: workers at the St. Cloud plant, according to the White House [2].
2040: the year Minnesota’s new law required carbon-free electricity [1].
100,000: the clean energy jobs Harris claimed the climate law had created in six months [1].

What Happened Next

Walz joined the ticket. In 2024, Harris ran for president with Walz as her running mate. They lost to Donald Trump and JD Vance, 312 electoral votes to 226, according to the National Archives [3].

The clean-vehicle credits ended. The One Big Beautiful Bill that Trump signed in July 2025 ended the federal tax credit for qualified commercial clean vehicles for any vehicle acquired after Sept. 30, 2025, according to the IRS [4].

Five months after St. Cloud, Harris told a Baltimore crowd that clean energy would “reduce population,” a slip the White House corrected to “pollution,” as HYGO News reported in its page on that speech.