City of Dalian orders 1,200 BYD electric buses
07 March 2014
The municipal government of Dalian, China has signed a cooperative agreement with BYD for the purchase of 600 BYD electric buses in 2014 and another 600 in 2015, totaling 1,200 units.
BYD is opening a new electric bus manufacturing facility in the Dalian Huayuankou Economic Zone to service the growing needs of northern China. The agreement also mentions a conversion initiative of more than 50% of new purchased taxis in Dalian to new energy vehicles in support of the “new energy vehicles promotion and local environment improvement” initiative.
BYD electric fleets have logged more than 175 million km (109 million miles) in revenue service).
The company recently inked a similar purchase agreement with Nanjing, for 600 electric buses and 400 electric taxis. (Earlier post.)
Another excellent news for BYD, China and Warren Buffet.
Another 20+ Chinese cities will follow with similar orders?
When will we follow China's lead?
Posted by: HarveyD | 07 March 2014 at 01:21 PM
What is sublime of Chinese large cities is that they order 1000 e-buses and e-taxis from local manufacturers instead of 3 or 4 at a time like we do.
What is great about BYD is that they can deliver large orders within 6 months or so.
No wonder they are catching up very quickly and will fly by USA and EU in many areas in the next few years.
Posted by: HarveyD | 07 March 2014 at 01:51 PM
Does anyone know how many US transit authorities even have 1000 buses? No more developed than our mass transit is, I would guess not many. And with replacement cycles over 20 years, it may be a while before a US system orders 1000 buses at a time.
Posted by: JMartin | 07 March 2014 at 02:22 PM
@ JMartin:
There are over 100,000 large city buses in USA and Canada. Their normal useful operation life is 12.5 years.
Cities with very large fleets are:
1) NYC with 4611
2) LA with 2702
3. NJ with 2647
4. Chicago with 2221
5. Sioux area with 2150
6. Toronto with 2066
7. Montreal with 1871
8. Philadelphia with 1573
9. Washington with 1514
10. Boston with 1457
11. MTA with 1533
12. Seatle with 1453
13. Vancouver with 1384
14. Phoenix with 1281
15. Houston with 1253
and many more.
There are probably more intercity and private buses in operation. The grand total is over 250,000.
Posted by: HarveyD | 07 March 2014 at 05:59 PM
MANY MORE BUS MANUFACTURERS CAN COME OUT WITH ELECTRIC BUSES IF GOVERNMENTS START BUYING THEM.IT IS HIGH TIME THEY START DOING SO. LONDON CAN EASILY ORDER 1000 E BUSES. EVEN TINY BHUTAN IS GOING FOR 10000 E CARS.
Posted by: Nirmalkumar | 07 March 2014 at 06:40 PM
Thanks for that data Harvey. It does support my point, however. NYC should be replacing ~400 buses a year. Not enough to order 1000, unless the operating costs are so low, they can scrap otherwise useful vehicles.
Posted by: JMartin | 08 March 2014 at 12:50 PM
JM: When a large city orders 1000+ e-buses or subway cars they are almost never delivered in the same calender year.
Delivery can take place over 3 to 4 years at the rate of 250 to 350 a year.
For NYC, a normal delivery rate would be more like 4800/12 = 400 units a year.
For USA/Canada large cites, delivery could be at 100,000/12.5 = 8,000 units a year
u
For SA/Canada all major large bus users, delivery could be at 250,000/12.5 = 20,000/year. (*)
(*) that is about 2,000X the current rate.
Posted by: HarveyD | 08 March 2014 at 05:23 PM