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| The 150km charge ebus is California's low-tech attempt to beat BYD at the electric bus game. |
California last week launched the first of four electric schoolbusses with much fanfare while its local bus building industry at the same time tried to suppress imports of China’s electrical BYD buses by the Long Beach city fathers.
BYD’s electric fleets have now travelled over 175 million km and operate in many cities including recent projects in London, England and New York. A BYD bus typically does 250 km on a charge.
The SST-e utilizes a Ford E450 cutaway chassis equipped with a Motiv electric powertrain. It’s equipped with up to five battery packs that allow for a range of about 120 km.
The Long Beach Press-Telegram reported the Federal Transit
Administration (FTA) may block the purchase of the Chinese company’s buses,
because the city’s transport board members had approved its contract in March
2013 without demanding that BYD comply with the Disadvantaged Business
Enterprise Programme. The programme requires contractors that receive Federal
money to give minority-owned businesses a chance at the work. The Federal
government is now offering Long Beach two choices, cancel the current
$12.1-million contract with BYD and start the bidding process over again, or
keep BYD and lose funding from Washington.
California’s first all-electric school bus was built by Motiv Power
Systems and Trans Tech Bus Company and the California Air Resources Board.
While China builds a car a second, California’s electric version of
Trans Tech’s SST model was unveiled in October 2013 and delivered last month.
The delays at Long Beach is a mere speed bump for BYD, a company in
which Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought a nearly 10% in 2008 for eight Hong Kong dollars a share.
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| Bangalore's first BYD bus. |
Bangalore, often referred to as the “Silicon Valley of India”, is
the latest city looking at BYD’s electric buses to provide a solution for its
polluted air.
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| One of Dalian's fleet of 1200 BYD busses. |
In northern China, the “Bright Northern Pearl” city of Dalian has
ordered 1 200 of the electric BYD buses to transport passengers in the city. A
far cry from the leisurely pace in California, Dalian’s municipal government
expect to take delivery of the first 600 BYD electric buses this year and the
remaining 600 early next year.
BYD recently signed a similar purchase agreement with Nanjing, for
600 electric buses and 400 electric taxis.
