BYD, a large Chinese multinational automotive and transport manufacturer, just secured its first electric bus order in Germany. BYD will deliver 22 fully electric 12-meter e-buses to the Bochum and Herne Castrop-Rauxel area in the Ruhr region. The buses will be delivered to the Bochum-Gelsenkirchen transport operator Bogestra and Herne transport operator HCR.
BYD is the world’s biggest manufacturer of electric buses. Since 2010, the company has produced over 50,0000 electric buses with iron phosphate Li-Ion batteries (LiFePo). A large portion of the buses is running in Chinese cities, but the company also delivered electric buses to London, Landskrona in Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Houston, USA. The first electric buses will arrive in the summer of 2020 and run on route 354 in Bochum, route 380 in Gelsenkirchen, and in Herne. The 12 meter e-buses can carry up to 80 passengers and have a single charge range of more than 200 kilometers with air conditioning.
BYD 12-meter bus in the 2015 design I © BYD
The buses represent an investment cost of ca. 10 million EUR which are partly funded by the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety, the land North-Rhine-Westphalia and the Land Transport Authority VRR.
08.10.2019
