Photo taken on Oct. 15, 2014 shows the "e6" taxis made by BYD, a Shenzhen based Chinese manufacturer of rechargeable batteries and automobiles, in Brussels, capital of Belgium. (Xinhua Photo)
Chinese auto producer BYD Company won the Zayed Future Energy Prize for its contribution to the development and production of environmentally friendly battery technology for electric cars on Monday.
At the opening of the annual World Future Energy Summit 2016, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Deputy Minister of Defense Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan handed the award to Wang Chuanfu, who founded BYD back in 1995 in Shenzhen, China's Guangdong province.
BYD, which is an abbreviation for Build Your Dreams, is the world's largest rechargeable battery supplier and new energy vehicle manufacturer.
In its quest to contribute to green energy, BYD came up with a more environmentally friendly battery technology which led to the development of the BYD Iron-Phosphate Battery.
"The battery is fire-safe, completely recyclable and long-cycle solution that has become the core of the company's current clean energy platform of transportation and storage," according to the company's website. In China and abroad, around 160 cities started to use BYD electric buses and taxis.
BYD is expanding operations in the solar power generation sector, as the third pillar of its strategy to build a zero emission energy ecosystem: from generation to storage to transportation.
The annual Zayed Future Energy Prize was named after the UAE's first President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, who founded the Gulf Arab state in 1971, and was first announced in 2008.
The award is invented to honor schools, non-profit bodies, individuals, as well as small and large firms worldwide for their innovative solutions to creating a new, sustainable energy future.
