From cars, to taxis, coaches, buses and municipal trucks and tippers, BYD’s portfolio of electric motor vehicle is vast. SkyRail is in the background
The answer to the first is - deadly serious, and to the second, yes!
“Electromobility is here today. It’s not something in the future,” said Isbrand Ho, Managing Director of BYD Europe.
That simple but clear message is underscored by BYD’s reach across a number of global markets with electric buses, coaches, taxis, cars and forklifts in operation. It is also the world’s largest mobile phone battery manufacturer.
Close to home, almost 100 electric buses are already prowling the streets of Nottingham and London - with most of them using ADL’s 10.8m Enviro200EV body, which is now the norm for our island.
A BYD electric double- decker is being developed with ADL. More details on the double-decker will be released soon.
The need for cleaner air in cities drives the demand of electric motor vehicle, and this trend is only going to continue in the UK. Almost 30 Clean Air Zone (CAZ) schemes are expected to be put in action within the next three years.
Paris, a city that faces even more acute pollution problem that London, has taken measures that by European standards are tough - banning diesels.
Taking much more aggressive actions than London, Paris has committed to implement zero-emission bus fleet, and will require coaches in the core city centre to be electrically operated.
Clear vision: BYD founder and chairman Wang Chuanfu
BYD has already delivered its pre- production coach, and is now in the process of building a €10m electric bus plant at an extended former Michelin tyre warehouse in France. The plant is expected to produce 200 electric bus every year.
In France, using coaches is the norm for home-to-school transport and BYD sees a market here.
Meanwhile in Hungary, BYD’s new bus assembly plant was opened in April, which is expected to produce 400 vehicles every year from now on. In the future, BYD also expects to manufacture complete chassis in the plant, in which these chassis will be supplied to ADL in Falkirk.
BYD’s European operations are ran from the company’s office in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Close-up
BYD hosted a trip for 10 selected journalists, including one from Route-One so that its intent and determination can be documented and understood. Journalists from France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Hungary are also represented.
BYD has already identified strategic regions that it believes are the most likely to set up its operation to introduce its electric vehicles. The company’s move to invite journalists from these regions also underpins its intent.
BYD’s HQ is in Shenzhen, which is bordering Hong Kong. This sprawling city, which is set amongst sub-tropical wooded hills, has 22million inhabitants (London has 9m), and now boasts an all-electric bus network of 5,698 vehicles.
There is also heavy rail and an eight-line 178-mile metro with 199 stations, which continues to expand.
As part of a special Chinese development region, the city’s forte is its high technology industry. The scale of innovation is impressive even by European standards, and the city has good numbers to back it up.
BYD employs 220,000 people - 20,000 of them are engineers. The company, founded as a battery manufacturer in 1995, now has Warren Buffet, the ‘Sage of Omaha’, enlisted as one of its high-profile investors.
Foreign investment enabled BYD to expand rapidly and comprehensively. It now has a €15bn annual turnover.
The company is now a full-scale business with four key pillars at its heart: electronics, road vehicles, energy storage and rail.
Its Shenzhen factory is extraordinarily large that the company is now extending its monorail route, which is expected to be 10.3km long to encircle the plant. BYD’s advancement in its monorail technology also demonstrates its commitment to the rail business.
BYD hopes its latest “Skyrail” will solve the problems of congestions in metropolitan area. “Skyrail”, being only one- fifth of what it costs to build a conventional light rail/metro systems, can be placed in the central reservations of roads, rather than taking up valuable development land.
Meanwhile, some of the roofs of the plant has an 8mW solar array, which is sufficient to power one-sixth of the factory’s energy usage. This is where another aspect of BYD’s strength comes in - energy storage. At the factory, banks of batteries will store electricity when the employees are away, for example when workers go out for lunch break. When the workers are back, the batteries will discharge and power the work that these workers are going to do.
Elsewhere in the world, the solution is containerised, and used to smooth supplies on the grid from solar and wind farms, and provide back-ups.
Battery is the Core
At the core of everything that BYD does is its battery technology.
BYD prides itself of its credentials in ensuring safety and environmental sustainability. As of now, there was no record of accident to its 30,000 buses built and other products.
Charging station at a Shenzhen Bus depot.
In the UK, charging infrastructure is provided in partnership with an electricity supplier.
This high level of safety is particularly meaningful against the backdrop of Samsung’s self- combusting Galaxy public relation fiasco and other reports on electric cars catching fire on its own.
BYD’s unique Iron-Phosphate battery technology guarantees the safety and sustainability of its products. The technology doesn’t require rare materials in the manufacturing process and can be recycled.
We were unable to document further details on the technology due to sensitive nature of industrial secrets.
The manufacturing process of the battery is all automated, with around 50 people on the assembly line to watch over the process. The environment in the factory is clean and the technology used is of cutting edge.
To ensure safety, the factory has a set of rigorous testing facilities in place, where batteries are dropped, crushed, baked to 150°C, and placed in an open fire. The battery must be able to endure heat, not catch fire or explode to get to the next stage of the supply chain.
BYD is actively researching a new chemical formula for its new battery. It has investigated 300 types, and is about to announce a new formulation.
Wang Chuanfu, 51, is a chemical engineer who founded BYD and is now its Chairman. He has declared war on particulates (PM) and prefer an environmentally friendly way approach.
“While BYD’s battery density is not as high as some of our competitors - although it is still excellent - it is more important to have a safe and environmentally sound battery. That’s the difference between BYD and others,” said Chuanfu.
Range
The distance a BYD electric vehicle can travel is a key concern for buyers. In London, where the first of three orders for 89 of the 10.8m BYD/ ADL Enviro200EV are already in service, there have been no surprises.
The routes are well within the battery’s capacity. The only difference is that the electric consumption has been lower than expected, which is pleasantly surprising since it means the operating cost can be reforecast to be lower.
The full 12m BYD electric bus has a range of up to 180 miles or 17 hours a day, depending on duty cycle. BYD’s e6 electric taxi, already in service in London, Brussels, Rotterdam and Barcelona, has a range up to 250 miles, which is similar to BYD’s electric cars.
The latter, although not available in Europe yet, are up to the latest western standards. During the track-based test drives, we discovered we were able to push handling to the limit. In partnership with Daimler, BYD is producing Denza-branded cars. BYD wants to ensure that the product is good by every measure before launching it in Europe. BYD also recognises that dealer network, support, and marketing need to be further strengthened to prepare its product in the highly-competitive market.
Selling a car is just a chip of the complicated operation. There’s also signs that BYD will choose Norway as the first country to see its cars.
Testing, testing
The imminent arrival of Typhoon Hato - rated 10, the highest in the scale – forced factories in Hong Kong and Shenzhen to be shut down temporarily. Our planned trip to see BYD’s main bus building factory 75 miles away in Shanwei was cancelled.
However, we were able to see the bus prototyping centre in Shenzhen, where new designs undergo pre-production assembly. On the line were artics, due to be delivered to Oslo, Norway.
We were also brought to visit the car-crash testing laboratory. We have had first-hand experience to see a full-size version of what that has been used to produce Euro NCAP safety ratings. The process includes undercover facilities to stage head-on crashes, along with a phalanx of millions of dollars’ worth of crash test dummies.
BYD also has the largest facility in China for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing. The 12m bus inside was dwarfed by the large hall (28mx18m), and the adjacent £7m acoustic chamber (28mx23m). The chamber is used to test noise, harshness and vibration. It is also China largest chamber that is able to accommodate artics and deckers with ease.
Meanwhile, the Denza car plant is clean, modern and class-leading. Although the scale of production is relatively small currently, the plant is able to be upgraded to accommodate higher volumes.
BYD’s joint venture with Daimler: Denza car assembly plant.
Real world
A visit to a depot of the Shenzhen Bus Group allows us to document the operation of all-electric bus in China. Around 80% of the 5,698 fleet is supplied by BYD. With 26,000 employees, the business comprises 967 8.5m minibus, 40,000 10.5m bus, 33 double-deckers and the rest are 12m bus.
Shenzhen moved from hybrids in 2008, to pure electric in 2011. In June, the last diesel bus was withdrawn, as the entire fleet renewal with electric was completed.
This massive investment in vehicles and infrastructure, with 1,174 charging posts at 74 depots and outstations, has revolutionised air quality in the city, reducing the emission of Carbon dioxide by 430,000 tonnes per year. There are 344 routes with an average of 15-hour/110-miles duty cycle.
The city aims to achieve all-electric taxi by 2020 as an important measure to tackle its longstanding pollution issues.
The future
BYD, guided by its battery technology and management systems, is a strong, technology-focused company that has clear objectives and goals across multiple sectors.
The company is also environmentally responsible. The battery it produces has a slightly lower density, that’s both environmentally sound and safe to be used. BYD also prides itself for its ability minimize pollutants in the battery manufacturing process.
BYD is advancing at an incredibly rapid pace – it has both the desire and capacity to be one of the most significant player in the automotive industry.
