China’s top electric vehicle maker BYD said last Wednesday it will be providing 300 electric buses to the Chinese city of Shenzhen in time for an international sporting event - making it the world’s largest electric bus fleet.
The Hong Kong-listed company, which has seen rapid growth and is known for its famous financial backer American tycoonWarren Buffett, said last month that ithas been testing its eBUS-12 fleet in the cities of Shenzhen and Changsha since January. After conducting trials that saw its buses road-tested for 46,380 kilometres, the company said each eBUS saves about 322 kilograms in carbon emissions per day and US$2,833per month. The city charges the buses overnight to take advantage of off-peak electricity rates.
Shenzhen chose BYD to supply the environmentally-friendly bus fleet for the 2011 International Universiade Games, a global sporting event held every two years in cities around the world since 1924. The Shenzhen games will begin in August of this year. At the end of the games, Shenzhen will add the buses to its fleet, which will be the largest all-electric bus fleet in the world.
BYD’s long-range all-electric bus, when fully loaded with passengers, travels for more than 250 kmon a single charge with the help of solar panels mounted on the bus roof. The company said that its iron phosphate battery, which can be charged up to 50 per cent in 30 minutes, has the highest safety levels, lasted longest and used the most environmentally friendly materials of existing electric vehicle batteries. With the motors built directly into the wheels, the eBUS-12 has no axel and sits lower to the road for easy passenger access.
In April, BYD announced results from several other trials of electric transport fleets.
Shenzhen last year tested 50 of the company’s e6 passenger vehicles for use as a taxi fleet. Based on those trials, which led to a monthly fuel savings of $1,167 per taxi, the International University in Shenzhen ordered 250 of the vehicles for use on their campuses.
In Los Angeles, the local housing authority tested BYD’s hybrid vehicle, the F3DM. BYD reported the sedan achieved a fuel efficiency equivalent of 88 miles per gallon (equivalent to 37.41 kilometres per litre) and averaged an energy cost savings of 70 per cent.
Other Asian cities experimenting with electric buses include Makati in the Philippines, whose start-up public transport company, Green Frog Zero Emission Transport, is importing 38 buses with capacity for 36 passengers each. The company said it aims to introduce 3,000 buses within the next seven years.
Seoul’s metropolitan government announced the world’s first electric buses in use on a commercial bus route in December last year, when it deployed lithium-ion battery charged buses built by Korean Hyundai Heavy Industries, known for its shipbuilding business, and Korean manufacturer Hankuk Fiber. Seoul’s buses travel 83 kmon a single 30-minute charge.
Seoul is one of many cities setting targets for green transport. Its “Green-Car, Smart City” scheme aims to put of 120,000 electric vehicles on its streets by 2020 - an amount that will include half of all its public transport vehicles.
According to a report published in November last year by US-based research company IDTechEx, which has conducted electronics market research for over ten years, over 30 companies are involved in the manufacturing of electric buses, the cost of which range from US$50,000 to US$500,000. BYD is one of the major battery producers, along with Panasonic, LGChem, Altairnano, EnerDel, ThunderSky and Valence Technologies.
The report noted that even with an average cost that is 50 per cent higher than conventional buses, electric buses have an advantage: “Electric buses reduce noise and air and land pollution and do the job better. They are often adopted regardless of payback because local government wishes to be seen to be green…Fuel is cheaper, maintenance is less and life is longer,” it said.
The world’s cities collectively purchase about 135,000 new buses each year, but currently only 12 per cent are electric.
But as the report also noted, “penetration (of such vehicles) is increasing and there is a multi-billion dollar market awaiting.”
