The Los Angeles Department of Transportation has ordered 130 K7M electric buses from BYD, which calls the order the largest to date in the US.
The 30-foot K7M has 22 seats, a range of up to 150 miles,
and a charging time of 2.5 to 3 hours. BYD offers a 12-year warranty on its
batteries.
Los Angeles has launched its own Green New Deal, a set of
sustainability goals that includes converting the entire LADOT fleet to
zero-emission buses by 2030, and every city vehicle to zero-emission technology
by 2050.
It is estimated that the 130 new e-buses will displace 98,700
metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over their 12-year life, a reduction 81%
compared to the agency’s CNG buses.
The new buses will be built at BYD’s Coach & Bus factory
in Lancaster, California.
LADOT has been working with BYD since 2014 when it conducted
a 90-day trial of a battery-electric bus. In 2017, the agency introduced the first
of four K9S e-buses. BYD has now sold more than 460 electric buses to transit
agencies and other customers in Southern California.
Source: BYD
Source: Electric Vehicles Magazine
