On March 16, 2016, an 18-meter articulated pure electric BYD bus covered the more than 248 miles (400km) distance between Bogota and Medellin with one single battery charge, in a non-stop test preparation journey of the BYD zero emission bus to initiate Medellin. The topography of Medellin is characterized by frequent and often exceedingly steep slopes, and this successful journey was the first step to prove BYD’s mature technology to provide reliable electrified public transportation.
Medellin ranks ninth in air pollution levels in Latin America, making its efforts to curb carbon emissions all the more important. The 18-meter zero emission bus represents a cut of approximately 300 tons of CO2 per year.
By implementing electrified transportation, the city can prevent 42 deaths a week from poor air quality caused by traffic pollution.
BYD actively strives to disseminate its safe and environmentally-friendly products to cater for different markets. With a driving range of 400 km with its braking regeneration function, BYD’s 18-meter high-floor articulated pure electric bus carries 160 passengers and was specially designed especially for Latin America markets. The vehicle relies on the company’s proprietary advanced core technology, the fire-safe, non-toxic iron-phosphate battery that is combined with in-wheel motor drive. Such breakthroughs have gone a long way towards making the vehicle a huge contribution to the company’s efforts to implement reliable and clean electrified transportation in Medellin, with the additional benefit of substantial operation and maintenance cost savings as compared with traditional combustion buses. The average daily fuel cost of a conventional bus is 194 USD, whereas the average daily electricity cost for a BYD electric bus is a mere 50 USD, making it significantly more economical to bus operators.
The BYD pure electric articulated bus will officially start testing in Medellin in the last week of March, adding the city to BYD’s global transport electrification footprint currently running in over 190 cities in 43 countries worldwide.
