First China-made electric bus launched in Bulgaria

A China-made advanced electric bus that can run without batteries using a cutting edge ultra-capacitor technology, was put into pilot operation on Friday.

This is the first electric bus in the Sofia public transport ever, the city's mayor Jordanka Fandakova said at the launching ceremony.

This pilot project allows the manufacturers to test the bus, and the municipality expects to see the results in order to plan further its investment in green transport, Fandakova said.

The vehicle is a result of the collaboration between Israeli-Bulgarian bus company Chariot Motors, China's second largest bus manufacturer Higer and China's world-leading ultra-capacitor producer Aowei.

Zwika Zimmerman, Chairman of the Board of Chariot Motors, said at the launching ceremony this is the first electric bus on European streets that does not require traditional battery charging and can cover over 20 km route on a single charge requiring just a few minutes.

"There is already a bus ready to be sent to Israel for pilot in Tel Aviv, and there is already first orders for buses from Israel, and now we are discussing orders from all of Europe," Zimmerman said in an interview with Xinhua.