Aware of the significance and importance of indigenous peoples to promote better communion with nature and integration with the environment, BYD do Brasil – a subsidiary of Chinese renewable energy giant BYD Company Ltd. – placed a pure electric bus to demo at the 1st World Indigenous Games (Jogos Mundiais dos Povos Indígenas), a multisport event with over 2,000 participating indigenous athletes from 23 countries taking place in Palmas – capital of the Brazilian state of Tocantins – from Oct. 23rd to Oct.30th.
The indigenous people coming from all over the country and the world, as well as the community, had the unique opportunity to experience the comfort and silence of the BYD K9 zero-emission bus, and also to get better acquainted with what can be considered the future in sustainable collective mobility. The first World Indigenous Games are an international project conceived by the Intertribal Council (ITC), and grew from the national Jogos dos Povos Indígenas (Indigenous Peoples Games) that began in 1999. It is a joint effort by the ITC, the Brazilian Ministry of Sport, and the Municipality of Palmas.
This is actually not the first time the community of Palmas experiences the BYD fully electric bus. In February 2014, the K9 was presented to the city in a series of successful test rides when it featured excellent performance under the city’s scalding heat. Palmas is Brazil’s youngest capital, and since its foundation, great attention to sustainable development has been paid. On occasion of the Games, Carlos Amastha, the Mayor of Palmas, stated: “Palmas has a long term commitment to sustainability. The partnership to bring the BYD electric bus to the World Indian Games is a way to reaffirm our commitment to a more sustainable future for our city.”
The BYD K9 is a 12-meter, 4-door, low-floor and zero-emission urban bus, with universal accessibility for passengers with limited mobility. Its innovative design was especially suited to the Brazilian market, and features optimized power performance as compared to its diesel counterpart.
The K9 offers a driving range of 250 km on a single charge (enough to run a whole day), offers a silent and comfortable ride, without the uncomfortable jerks and vibrations common to combustion buses, and also greatly improves drivers and city dwellers’ quality of life by drastically reducing noise pollution. BYD’s electrified transportation solutions are successfully running in over 150 major urban centers in 36 countries, with the largest fleet – 780 zero emission buses – running in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, accumulating mileage of 79,960,000 km, and a single mileage of 266,000 km. Go figure what that means in terms of CO2 cuts for the city.
