Chinese Automobile Maker BYD Looks To Increase Sale Of Electric Buses In India

Chinese automobile manufacturer BYD is all set to open bookings for its new electric multi-purpose vehicle (MPV)  — T3. The company has received orders for 200 units already and aims to sell around 10K units within two to three years.

The vehicle will be in line with BYD’s strategy of ‘Public Transportation Electrification’ and ‘7+4 Full Market Strategy’. ‘Public Transportation Electrification’, like the name suggests, aims to boost for electrification of public transportation in India. ‘7+4 Full Market Strategy’, on the other hand, has a more wholesome agenda.

Under the ‘7+4 Full Market Strategy’, BYD has divided its EV catalogue into conventional and special type of vehicles. The conventional type consists of seven types of transportation passenger vehicles, taxis, buses, coaches, urban logistics vehicles, urban construction vehicles, and urban sanitation vehicles, whereas the special type vehicles include transportation for mining, ports, airports, and warehousing. BYD wants to introduce these 7+4 modes of transportation in the Indian market.

The Chinese automobile maker currently supplies locally produced electric buses — nine metres long K7 and 12 metres long K9 — in India. Both the vehicles can run for 250 Km on a single charge.

The company has supplied more than 200 electric buses in India, which are running in various cities — Bengaluru, Rajkot, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Goa, Kochi, Chandigarh, Vijayawada, Manali, Mumbai and Surat, among others.

BYD produces 2,000 electric buses annually in its Chennai-based manufacturing unit. The company is now targeting to increase its manufacturing capabilities to 5,000 vehicles annually, BYD India’s executive director Ketsu Zhang told Business Standard. For this, the company has also partnered with Hyderabad-based Olectra for manufacturing and supplying electric buses.

The Indian government is also looking to deploy 5K electric buses on the Indian streets, under its FAME II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India 2) initiative. The government will offer a subsidy of 40%, to select states, on the cost of the electric buses, which can go up to INR 55 Lakh per standard buses of 10-12 metres. For this, the Department of Heavy Industries has issued an Expression of Interest (EOI), inviting state government’s proposals for the same.