BYD intros all-electric public transport system in the Netherlands

Electric vehicle

Greentech Lead Asia: BYD, leading Chinese automotive and green technology enterprise that manufactures advanced, environmentally-friendly battery technologies for electric vehicles, has delivered six electric buses to the Netherlands.

The electric buses launch marks the beginning of a fully-electrified public transportation service in the Netherlands. The buses are offered to the island home of city of Schiermonnikoog, and the Netherlands’ first National Park in the province of Friesland, Netherlands.

“Friesland province now leads Europe in green transportation. We will soon have a fully-electrified public transportation service with these six BYD electric buses. This is good for Schiermonnikoog, good for tourism, and great for the environment!” said Friesland Provincial executive director Johannes Kramer.

BYD Electric Bus model is a full-size, 12-meter (40 foot) transit bus powered entirely by the company’s advanced Iron Phosphate batteries. The BYD buses are comparable to the buses now servicing Schiermonnikoog in terms of size and can accommodate 60-70 passengers.

However, the BYD electric bus can be charged at night and with a range of over 250 Km per charge ( > 155 miles ), they can provide service all day without needing another charge. This project supports Friesland province’s published goals to be fully independent of fossil fuels.

Friesland National Park has become one of the first places in Europe to entirely convert their public transportation to zero emissions, electric buses.

Member of the provincial executive Johannes Kramer, said, “This is the Europe’s first fully electric bus tender into service. Friesland is leading the way. This is good for the people living in national park Schiermonnikoog and for the tourists who enjoy it so much.”

BYD has entered into a 15 year maintenance contract to support the buses in service and will be employing locally recruited mechanics to undertake the work.

BYD’s first pure electric employs many advanced technologies developed internally by BYD’s R&D team that consists of 15,000 engineers. For example, the Iron-phosphate or “Fe Battery” used on the BYD ebus is non-polluting: the materials contained in the battery can be recycled or easily disposed of.

The bus has no direct emissions, very low noise, regenerative braking, full AC charging in 5 hours, BYD said.

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