Buses World News: ELECTRIC BUSMAKERS NEWS * WORLDWIDE: * Canada's New Flyer - India's Ashok Leyland - USA/China's: ByD

* Texas / USA - ByD unveils world's largest battery electric vehicle

(Photo: BYD Lancaster Articulated 60-foot eBus)
Houston,TXS,USA -Busworld (Belgium) -18 Oct 2014: -- BYD Motors kicked off the 2014 American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Expo in Houston with a new product – the first electric articulated bus. Fittingly named “The Lancaster” for this occasion, after the city in California where it was designed and manufactured. The BYD Lancaster eBus 60 foot articulated battery-electric bus, can drive some 280 kilometres with a passenger load of up to 120 passengers. The bus was in development for almost two years. BYD's mission is to create safer and more environmentally-friendly battery technologies. This has resulted in the BYD Iron-Phosphate Battery, a fire-safe, completely recyclable, and incredibly long-cycle technology -- the foundation of BYD's Electric buses. These buses run entirely off battery power lasting up to 24 hours on a single charge, with single off-peak charging time of 2-4 hours. No additional generation capacity is needed to be built to charge our buses at night since the grid is only 40% utilized, according to BYD representatives...

* Manitoba / Canada - New Flyer's first 60' fuel cell hybrid bus in North America

(Photo: New Flyer's latest Xcelsior 60-foot buses will run on a battery-electric/fuel cell propulsion system) Winnipeg,MAN,CAN -Winnipeg Free Press -27 Oct 2014: -- New Flyer Industries Inc. is developing the first North American designed and built 60-foot battery-electric/fuel cell hybrid bus that will operate in daily service. CALSTART, received the green light from the FTA for work to proceed. The electric propulsion system being integrated into New Flyer’s Buy America-compliant Xcelsior X60 heavy-duty transit bus platform includes a combination of batteries, a fuel cell, and hydrogen storage. The electric drive bus will allow the fuel cell to operate at a relative steady-state, while the batteries will be able to both capture breaking energy and provide power for acceleration... New Flyer has built six XE40s for North American customers, and expects five of them to enter service in the coming weeks...

* China - Ankai to launch the fifth generation electric bus in Beijing

(Photo: The fifth generation bus is the first Ankai bus equipped with e-control)
Beijing,China -Busworld (Belgium) -19 Oct 2014: -- On the recently held 2014 China International New Energy Automobile and Technology Application Exhibition in the China National Convention Center in Beijing bus manufacturer Ankai presented three electric new energy buses, among them its fifth generation electric bus... The fifth generation electric bus is the first Ankai bus equipped with e-control. Ankai has further signed a contract with the Beijing Public Transportation Group for delivery of Ankai pure electric midibuses which will be operated in community transport service. The Ankai Baositong, another electric bus, will target at the company commercial vehicle market. According to the new legal regulations in China, by 2020 the percentage of new energy vehicles in the transportation industry should reach 30%...

* India - Ashok Leyland to make electric, hybrid buses in

(Picture: A Optare's Solo bus)
Alwar,India -Busworld (Belgium) -17 Oct 2014: -- Indian bus manufacturer Ashok Leyland will start manufacturing and marketing electric and hybrid buses in India from next year. The company is looking to bring a range of vehicles from its U.K. arm Optare to India. It will be launching the Solo bus from Optare in its brand name in the Bus Expo in New Delhi early next year. Then, it will look at manufacturing electric and hybrid buses in India... Optare has been selling 100 electric buses a year in the U.K. ... Vinod Dasari, Managing Director of Ashok Leyland, said, that capacity was not an issue. The company needed to invest in battery technology which required to be imported from the U.K., the U.S. or China, he pointed out... Ashok Leyland has bus manufacturing facilities at Alwar and Tiruchi in India. The electric and hybrid buses would be made from these facilities, he said...

Labels: electric busmakers news