It’s Not Just Shenzhen — Jaw-Dropping China Electric Bus Roundup
We’ve published a couple of articles recently on Shenzhen’s dramatic electrification of over 16,000 buses — something completely unprecedented around the world. But to say this is an isolated case of Chinese electric bus leadership would be to miss the much bigger and broader story. Below is a roundup of electric bus stories from China from November and December. The full article on EV Obsession covers the whole year, January–December of 2017, in this way. Check it all out if you want to really be blow away or want to turn your brain into a mesh of electric bus stories and statements. —Zach
2017 China electric bus round up:
Here’s a new roundup article of China’s electric bus development focusing on announcements of electric bus deployment, technical information, financial/political information, and general important green transportation news. If possible, I will make this a monthly update in 2018.
This basically carries on (after much delay) from a February 2017 story: “China Electric Bus Sales Still Exploding.”
For comparison against these Chinese electric bus announcements, I provide a few announcements from CleanTechnica from Europe and America, to provide context.
Harrogate Bus Company (UK) Orders 8 All-Electric Volvo Buses
Volvo’s Largest Electric Bus Order — 25 Volvo Electric Buses Ordered By Trondheim, Norway
Irizar Awarded Contract For Madrid’s First 15 Twelve-Meter Electric Buses
13 Volvo Electric Buses To Enter Service In Malmö
Kansas City Airport Gets 4 All-Electric BYD Buses
December
First Batch of 438 Pure Electric Buses for Huangpu will be Fully Operational
“The first batch of 438 pure electric vehicles will be launched in Huangpu District and Guangzhou Development Zone. The new intelligent bus shelter in the area will be unveiled at the same time.”
CRRC Delivers 272 Electric City Buses to Shaoyang
“On December 15, a ceremony was held to mark the official delivery of 272 electric city buses made by CRRC to their customers in Shaoyang. So far, over 400 CRRC electric city buses have been put into service in the city. Statistics show that each CRRC electric city bus helps the company cut its fuel costs by 68%, maintenance costs by 50%. Each year, CRRC electric bus fleet will help the bus operator save 2.6 million RMB in fuel costs and 0.5 million RMB in maintenance costs.”
Time and again we see the financial benefits of electric transport for individual and fleet owners.
Ankai Secures an Order of 400 City Buses from Hefei Public Transport
“On December 13, Ankai announced that it secured an order of 400 city buses with a total value of 680,000 million RMB from Hefei Public Transport. In August this year, Ankai supplied 400 clean energy city buses with a total value of 530 million RMB to Hefei Public Transport, including 160 clean energy–powered buses and 240 electric buses.”
Hefei’s fleet of electric buses is impossible to ignore as you travel around the city. The quiet and comfortable ride is something I have personally experienced.
Self-Driving Buses Begin Trial Operation in Shenzhen
“Four self-driving buses began trial operations Saturday in south China’s Shenzhen, a city known for its high concentration of hi-tech companies. The project was jointly developed by the National Intelligent Transport Systems Center of Engineering and Technology and Shenzhen Bus Group.”
The bus is from Ankai, but I noticed an odd detail in the next picture. Observe the vehicle on the digital tablet. Does it look familiar?
November
In Luohe, Henan 200 Pure Electric Buses Put into Service
“‘The extensive use of new energy buses not only protect the ecological environment of Luohe City, but also meet the requirements of building a national health city and a civilized city, but also can effectively reduce the cost of vehicles,’ Gao Jizhou, director of Transportation Bureau of Luohe City, told reporters”
Hengyang, Hunan: 400 BYD New Energy Buses will be Put into Operation Soon
“Recently, the reporters learned from Hengyang City Commission by letter that 400 BYD new energy buses will debut in Hengyang. They are expected to arrive in early December 2017. In line with this, Hengyang City plans to build three phases of new energy pure electric charging stations.”
Foshan Chancheng District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, will Have 200 New Pure Electric Buses by the End of 2017 and Plans to Transition to Fully Electric Fleet by 2020.
“By the end of 2017, Foshan Chancheng District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, will be replacing buses with 200 new energy buses, all of which are pure electric buses. According to the introduction of Chancheng Traffic Department, the company is fully implementing the permanent site selection of a number of bus hubs and accelerating the matching of charging stations so as to put into use the pure electric bus capable of saving energy and environmental protection as soon as possible. According to Foshan City’s 2017 bus uplift plan, starting from this year, all the new and updated buses in our city will be pure electric buses.”
According to the plan, by the end of 2018, Chancheng District will complete the phaseout of all diesel buses. In 2020, Chancheng District will complete the phaseout of all LNG buses, switching to 100% use of pure electric buses.
China is not aiming to stop electrification of its fleet anytime soon, in the coming year, we will see cities, towns and metro areas convent to 100% electric.
Fuzhou Plans to Replace 1622 Traditionally Fuelled Buses with New Energy Buses by 2020 in a Phased Transition. (1 2)
“In order to encourage new energy vehicles to be the first to be popularized and applied in the public transportation industry, the ‘Fuzhou New Energy Bus Replacement Plan’ has been approved by the municipal government and lists the timetable for the renewal of new energy buses.”
Tangshan will Add 45 Pure Electric New Energy Buses, and Clean Energy Buses Accounted for 90% of the Fleet
“Reporters learned from the Tangshan Public Transport Corporation, a few days ago, regarding the city’s newly purchased 45 pure electric buses, the first batch of 24 has been put into operation. Up to now, the city has purchased 541 new energy vehicles (including pure electric, gas-electric hybrid, and hybrid) and 1402 natural gas-powered clean energy vehicles. New energy and clean energy vehicles in the proportion of buses in Tangshan has reached 90%.“
Guang’an First Batch of 75 Pure Electric Buses Officially Launched in Trial Operation
“On October 29, the first batch of 75 BYD pure electric buses in Guang’an officially went into trial operation. One of the vehicles, the ‘White Blue Skirt,’ and the electric bus with the words ‘Hometown of Xiaoping’ printed on the body, became a beautiful landscape in the urban area.
“‘Compared with the traditional gasoline and LNG natural gas buses, the operating cost of a pure electric bus has dropped by more than half.’ Yang Kai Xu told reporters that the K8A new energy pure electric bus uses a lightweight body structure design and is equipped with high-capacity, high-safety iron batteries, equipped with intelligent key system, regenerative braking, and wheel drive technology, with a large power reserve, three electrical performance, smooth operation, ride comfort, noise-free, zero emission, pollution-free, high safety performance.”
Jump into similar summaries for January–October 2017 in the full article on EV Obsession.
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