BYD has secured its first major pure electric bus order in Israel for a a fleet of 17 single-deck 12m vehicles to serve the northern port city of Haifa, the country’s third largest city.
The buses will be operated by Egged, which with almost 3,000 buses is Israel’s largest operator.
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The vehicles were bought after BYD won the competitive tender process and follows trials of the manufacturer’s single-decker, which has been operating in Tel Aviv since 2013.
In Haifa, the new fleet is expected to cover 200km per bus per day.
“It’s the beginning of a revolution in the Haifa area which aims to reduce pollution coming from public transportation through the planned investment of ILS400m (US$111.5m),” said Israeli Minister of Environmental Protection, Ze’ev Elkin.
For his part, BYD Europe MD, Isbrand Ho added: “This is a very significant development for BYD – a new country for us which recognises the strength of the BYD product. And it’s important to note it’s the good experience over four years of our trial bus in Tel Aviv that led to this week’s announcement.
“The proven technology following our existing orders and extensive trials programme will lead us to further sales success in many of the cities in our region that are only now implementing the green transportation we see in Haifa”.
