Electric buses go mainstream – For every thousand battery-powered buses on the road, about 500 barrels a day of diesel fuel will be displaced from the market
Electric buses were seen as a joke at an industry conference in Belgium seven years ago when the Chinese manufacturer BYD showed an early model.
“Everyone was laughing at BYD for making a toy,” recalled Isbrand Ho, the Shenzhen-based company’s MD in Europe. “And look now. Everyone has one.”
Suddenly, buses with battery-powered motors are a serious matter with the potential to revolutionise city transport — and add to the forces reshaping the energy industry. With China leading the way, making the traditional smog-belching diesel behemoth run on electricity is starting to eat away at fossil-fuel demand.
The numbers are staggering. China had about 99% of the 385 000 electric buses on the roads worldwide in 2017, accounting for 17% of the country’s entire fleet. Every five weeks, Chinese cities add 9 500 of the zero-emissions transporters — the equivalent of London’s entire working fleet, according Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
See https://techcentral.co.za/electric-buses-go-mainstream/80857/
 |
Electric buses go mainstream – TechCentral |