% Not the world’s first electric double-decker bus, nor BYD's 1st %
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/066d0be0-772e-11e5-a95a-27d368e1ddf7.html#axzz3p8o8U4m5 Sino-British motor industry co-operation moves up a gear October 20, 2015 Andy Sharman [images http://im.ft-static.com/content/images/e4556d66-6673-4bfb-8691-34fa7c3dfa84.img The world’s first electric double-decker bus, produced by BYD ] British and Chinese motor industry co-operation — best known for Shanghai Auto’s ownership of the Longbridge plant in Birmingham — will advance this week to include projects from red London buses to Aston Martin sports cars, but with a common thread: electric power. Chinese car and battery maker BYD will show off the world’s first electric double-decker bus on Wednesday after signing a 10-year joint venture with Scottish manufacturer Alexander Dennis (ADL) to produce a zero-emissions fleet for the UK. The two companies will together build 2,000, 12-metre single-decker electric buses in Falkirk for the British market over 10 years, making the deal worth £660m in total revenues. But BYD, which is backed by Warren Buffett, and ADL are in advanced talks to extend the deal to include double deckers. “When this happens there is potential to triple the scale of the current deal to almost £2bn,” the companies said. The bus will be unveiled outside Lancaster House on Wednesday alongside the new hybrid electric TX5 taxi from the Chinese-owned London Taxi Company and the Aston Martin DB10 sports car from the forthcoming James Bond film, Spectre. Aston Marton is expected to announce an agreement on fresh investment from China Equity, a buyout group, which will help the British carmaker produce an all-electric version of its Rapide luxury saloon. A battery-powered concept version of the car will be in the garden at Lancaster House on Wednesday, and Aston Martin will seek to bring the UK-made variant to market within two years. The deals are part of a raft of Sino-British business being conducted under the auspices of a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping as the UK seeks to woo investment from the world’s second-largest economy. China, which is grappling with well-documented air quality and congestion problems in its cities, is closing the gap on emissions standards with western peers and has provided incentives to encourage the production and sale of electric vehicles, such as reducing the purchase price and supporting infrastructure. That has fostered the growth of companies such as BYD, as well as a host of electric vehicle startups that are vying to compete with Tesla, the Californian carmaker. Leon Daniels, Transport for London’s managing director for surface transport, said: “This is an exciting time to be enhancing the fleet with rapid developments in battery technology and benefitting from BYD’s research and development in this area.” The new electric double-decker is one of five that will be operated by Metroline on the number 98 route by the end of the year. It has a range of 190 miles in city traffic conditions, according to BYD, and can fully recharge in just four hours. “The Mayor of London challenged us that he did not believe an electric double decker was technically feasible,” said Isbrand Ho, managing director of BYD Europe. “This is a totally emissions-free product which will give Londoners a world-leading position in its efforts to improve air quality.” [© ft.com] ... [dated] http://www.gizmag.com/byd-electric-double-decker-bus-london/38256/ World's first zero-emission double-decker bus to arrive in London this year Chris Wood July 1, 2015 ... http://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/retrofitted-electric-double-decker-premiered/ Retrofitted electric double-decker premiered by David Cole 11th September 2014 For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-2bn-BYD-Electric-double-decker-UK-bus-deal-tp4678335.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
