Changsha BYD Coach

On July 24, 2009, Shenzhen BYD Auto Company Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BYD Company Limited, signed the Equity Transfer Agreement as transferee with Foshan Weishang to acquire the entire equity interests of Hunan Midea Coach.

Hunan Midea Coach, with its headquarters located in Hunan Environmental Protection Industrial Park, used to be a company engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of buses and coaches. After this acquisition, Shenzhen BYD Auto Company Limited will hold all the shares of Hunan Midea Coach and BYD Company Limited will be granted the permission by the government to manufacture buses and coaches.

BYD envisions entering into the new energy bus field through this acquisition and plans to produce new energy buses in 2010. Furthermore, BYD will manufacture passenger vehicle in Hunan and plans to produce car models C3, C6, F2 and so on.

This acquisition contributes to BYD’s new energy bus manufacturing and marketing and further enhances its automobile production capacity.

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According to sources from Changsha Development and Reform Commission, the first vehicle in Changsha BYD will roll off the production in October 2010, and the annual production capacity will amount to 30,000 units.

After purchasing Midea Bus in August 2009, BYD invested three billion RMB (439,434,000 USD) to build a new energy vehicle base in Changsha with research and development, production as well as selling, and the production base is about 4square km.

Currently the first stages of the program have already started, including painting plant, welding plant and No. eight plant. Additionally they plan to produce 1,000 diesel buses, including 700 city buses and 300 inter-city coaches, 300 electric coaches, and the buses can be widely used in public transport and long distance transport in Changsha.

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September 21, 2010
Chinese battery and automaker BYD Co. will roll out its first electric bus, BYD K9, at the end of this month, and display the zero-emission bus at the "China (Changsha) Technology Seminar" during October 11-12, Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

The ironcell-powered BYD K9 is now is in the final phase of assembly and debugging. With an impressive silver body, fashionable extra big window and vivid BYD logo, the K9 is 12 meters long, weighting 18 tons and a one-step low floor bus.

Similar with ordinary buses in appearance, the K9's running cost is otherwise 15% lower than the existing diesel buses due to the use of new energy.

The BYD K9 can run up to 300 Kilometers on a full charge, while ordinary buses can only run about 200 Kilometers at full capacity. One electric bus can thus save 170,000 yuan ($25,300) on running costs compared to a common bus, said Liu Xiangjun, general manager of Changsha BYD Auto Co., Ltd..

BYD is currently building 20 K9's in the Changsha base, and if the bus passes emissions test, practical driving assessment and other relevant tests, the company will then put the K9 into mass production and launch it to the domestic market immediately, Liu revealed.

The Chinese government has been active in establishing charging stations for electric buses and other supporting facilities across the country so as to ensure the smooth operation of electric buses.

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