Auto industry put pedal to metal

BYD exploring foreign markets

Last year was a time of global expansion for BYD, a leading electric bus manufacturer from Shenzhen, which made headway in its efforts to break into mature Western markets, according to the company.

Its 12-meter electric bus - the ebus - has already had trials in the United States, and in European cities including London, Paris, Bremen, Bonn, Madrid, Barcelona, Salzburg, Warsaw, Amsterdam, Brussels and Budapest, according to BYD.

The trials demonstrate that the range of the model can comfortably exceed 250 km on a single charge in real urban conditions.

The performance has also been proven through extensive operations in China.

In Shenzhen 220 BYD ebuses have been in service since January 2011, traveling more than 20 million km, each carrying up to 120 passengers during rush hours with full air-conditioning in use.

The ebus not only produces zero emissions but also offers huge savings in operating costs. BYD said the bus uses about 130 kWh of electricity per 100 km in urban conditions.

The battery takes four to five hours to charge from a totally exhausted state, which costs the equivalent of about $32 in the UK when using peak-hour electricity, a savings of up to 75 percent compared to a diesel bus, said the company.

BYD added that its battery is designed to have a life of more than 4,000 charges, enough for 10 years or more under normal operating conditions.