In a sunny April morning, a BYD K8 electric bus came out of its production line and went through all regular testing and approvals. As a passenger, you may find nothing particular about it – except for its quietness and the absence of an exhaust pipe as compared to a diesel bus. However, for BYD, this unit is a milestone to the company’s journey into the global new energy industry – it was the 10,000th electric bus ever produced by BYD.
Rome wasn’t built in a day – it took BYD 6 years to go from bus number one to its 10,000th. On September 30th, the first BYD pure electric bus made its debut at the BYD Changsha electric bus factory. This marked the BYD’s entrance into the commercial vehicle market, and also made BYD the first company to start making and marketing a pure electric bus.
Relying on its 16,000 R&D engineers and state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques, BYD is continuously upgrading its bus production line. For urban mobility, the company has launched the K9 (12m/40ft), K8 (10.5m/35ft), K7 (8m/26ft) and K6 (7m/23ft) pure electric transit buses; for long distance passenger transportation, it offers the C10 (14m/45ft), C9 (12m/40ft), C8 (10.5m/35ft), and C6 (7m/23ft) pure electric coaches. Additionally, BYD has developed the world’s first pure electric double decker bus K10 (10m/32ft) and longest articulated bus K11 (18m/60ft). With a broad range of bus configurations, BYD is able to fulfill the toughest client demands anywhere in the world. In 2015, the company sold over 7,500 units of electric buses globally, and at the beginning of this year it already orders for another 6,434 units.
The reason behind BYD’s persistence in public transportation electrification is its commitment to a better world for future generations and the global rise in environmental awareness. With over 170 countries solemnly adhering to the COP21 Agreement in Paris, every country is doing their best to counter the effects of climate change. Amongst the main efforts to cut down carbon emissions, public transportation electrification figures as one of the most effective, with the most immediate impact. Take China as an example: only 10% of city vehicular fleets are public transportation vehicles, however, these 10% contribute over 30% of city air pollution and GHG emissions. By fully electrifying public transportation, this portion of exhaust pollution can be eliminated once and for all. It is this very environmental impact that drives BYD to move forward, and such benefits – along with substantial cuts in fuel and operational costs – are prompting an increasing number of cities worldwide to adopt the company’s electrified transportation solutions. To date, BYD’s pure electric buses and taxis are operating in over 200 cities in 48 countries worldwide, chiefly the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, the UK, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Japan, Thailand, and China. One of BYD’s dreams is to fully replace internal combustion vehicles for pure electric alternatives across all categories and free the world from vehicular emissions. “We must not steal the blue skies and clean air from our future generations”, says Mr. Wang Chuanfu, BYD Company Ltd. president and chairman.
Today marks the completion of 10,000 buses, and also a new start for the next 10,000.
