The Deputy Mayor of London for Transport, Val Shawcross, Friday inaugurated Europe's largest fleet of all electric buses built in Britain by a partnership between the Chinese new energy automobile manufacturer BYD and the British bus building company Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL).
The 51 12-meter single deckers in London will service two Transport for London (TfL) routes -- 507 and 521. According to TfL figures, roughly 7 million passengers use buses on the both routes every year. The Enviro200EV buses bring together the battery and electric technology of BYD and the design and build expertise of ADL.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "The transformation of London's bus fleet will play a key role in making our transport cleaner and healthier."
Isbrand Ho, Managing Director of BYD Europe, said: "Today is the culmination of several years of hard work and we are delighted to be here with our partners TfL, Go-Ahead and ADL inaugurating Europe's largest electric bus fleet."
Colin Robertson, CEO of ADL, said: "These world-class vehicles are a product of partnership -- in collaborating with BYD, our shared vision has been to provide an electric vehicle solution which responds to all of our customers' needs.
BYD and ADL are at the forefront of the revolution which will bring electric buses to the streets of British cities. With 10,000 full size electric buses already produced, BYD boasts advanced, safe and long range Iron-Phosphate battery technology. ADL is Britain's largest bus manufacturer in the midi bus sector.
In Britain, aside from the 51 buses launched in London Friday, BYD is trialling the world's first pure electric double deckers -- five are in service with London operator Metroline on behalf of TfL and future versions will be built in partnership with ADL.
