Soon to be trundling along Londons busy streets, the zero-carbon vehicle was designed and developed by Chinas BYD company. The bus is 10.2m long, features full air conditioning and offers seats and standing spaces for 81 passengers. The batteries deliver 345 kWh of power and can run for up to 190 miles of typical urban driving. Recharging the bus takes about four hours and can be completed overnight using low-cost off-peak electricity, the company said in a press release.
The Mayor of London challenged us saying that he did not believe an electric Double Decker was technically feasible but we took up the challenge and in less than two years created the bus Londoners can see today, said Isbrand Ho, Managing Director of BYD Europe. This is not a hybrid bus but a totally emissions-free product that will give London a world leading position in its efforts to improve air quality.
BYD will supply the fleet of five buses for Transport for London and Metroline. The company is currently working on an on introduction program, which includes driver training and the installation of fast charging equipment at Metrolines Willesden Bus Garage in north London.
On Monday, the day before the first clean Double Decker was introduced at London City Hall, energy minister Andrea Leadsom addressed the government with the proposal to enshrine the Paris goal for net zero emissions by 2050 in U.K. law.
Following the Climate Change Act passed in 2008, the U.K. is currently aiming to cut its CO2 emissions by at least 80% by 2050. Also, according to the U.K.s pledge made at the United Nations climate change conference in Paris, in less than 35 years all new cars sold in the country will be emissions free.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
Popular content
Share
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.