Page 20 - Commercial Vehicle Engineer - December 2019

ELECTRIC BUSES IN CHINA
Playing catch-up
But Yutong still has a long way to go
to catch up with its Chinese electric vehicle arch-rival BYD in establishing a rm foothold in the UK and European bus markets. BYD now claims to be the top-selling electric bus manufacturer in Europe and is poised to introduce a new battery electric truck range at next year’s Hannover commercial vehicles show.
After establishing its European base
in the Netherlands as long ago as 1998, BYD Europe began manufacturing in Hungary in 2017, at a plant designed to expand into trucks as well, and shortly afterwards set up an electric bus assembly plant in France. An alliance with the UK’s top-selling bus manufacturer, Alexander Dennis Ltd (ADL) was formed in 2015 and all the signs are that this has been a huge success.
ADL’s sale to Canadian company NFI Group early this year raised a few question marks over the future of the partnership, but it appears to be going from strength
to strength, not least in London where all-electric BYD/ADL buses are an increasingly common sight.
A recent delivery of 22 BYD/ADL Enviro200 EV single-deckers to the Go- Ahead London operation for use on its route 214 service between Highgate and the City takes the total number of BYD/ ADL electric buses now in service in the UK to more than 200.
Customisation to suit particular operational requirements is one of BYD/ ADL’s strengths from a eet engineer’s point of view. The Enviro200 EVs on the Highgate route in London were speci ed at an overall length of 10.2 metres, in
the interest of better manoeuvrability
by comparison with the more usual 10.8-metre variant. An even shorter version, at 9.6 metres, is due to join the Go-Ahead London eet later this year, with 13 more at 10.8 metres due for 2020.
There are now about 170 BYD/ADL electric buses in service in London, not only with Go-Ahead but other TfL contractors such as Stagecoach and Metroline.
Go-Ahead and London United: both switching from diesel to electric with the BYD/ADL alliance for their London operations.
“There’s a genuine feel-good factor when travelling in quiet comfort on a vehicle which emits zero emissions and improves the city’s air quality”
20 DECEMBER 2019 > COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ENGINEER
“The order book looks very healthy
for both our single-deck and double-
deck products, and against a broadening customer portfolio outside of London, too,” says Frank Thorpe, BYD (UK) managing director. “Manchester and Birmingham are switching to BYD/ADL electric mobility and there’s considerable interest elsewhere. There’s a public transport revolution taking place in the UK and it
is electric mobility that really is leading
the charge.”
Colin Robertson, ADL’s chief executive, added: “Our customers enjoy the operational bene ts of pure-electric
drive – lower running costs and easier maintenance. And passengers are really responding, too. There’s a genuine feel- good factor when travelling in quiet comfort on a vehicle which emits zero emissions and improves the city’s air quality. As more and more routes are switched to electric, London is setting new standards for sustainable mobility.”