BYD is already well-known for its presence in the global electric car market. Only a fraction of these people familiar with BYD know about its origins in manufacturing batteries for devices. Now, BYD hopes that Australians will soon be familiar with its name when it comes to zero-emissions buses.
“BYD was founded in 1995 as a battery manufacturer, generating batteries for smartphones, tablets and laptops,” Jon Tozer, director of vehicle advertising at BYD Australia, told ABC.
“With global partners such as Nokia, Apple, Dell, Toshiba, Microsoft, Samsung, Motorola and many others, our base was in the vehicle game. “
By 2000, the emerging company had become one of the world’s largest producers of safe rechargeable batteries, developing advanced battery systems and patents in the space.
It wasn’t until 2003 that BYD entered the vehicle business through the acquisition of Xi’an Tsinchuan Auto (now BYD Auto Company Limited). Following popular investments in the following years, BYD’s automotive business was introduced in the mid-2000s, delivering thousands of buses. trucks and cars around the world.
Two decades after the acquisition of Tsinchuan, BYD posted an annual profit of $61. 7 billion, with a 57% year-on-year expansion in 2022.
“We work in 400 cities and employ more than 570,000 people worldwide,” says Tozer.
“People don’t realize what BYD is: we’re in 70 countries on six continents. “
BYD’s vehicle segment took off in 2008, when the advertising vehicle segment began. It is an indispensable component of BYD’s four core industries, with generation research, design, application, and promotion of new power cars being a primary focus.
Since this evolution, BYD Commercial Vehicles has developed an entire industrial chain of new electric advertising vehicles that also extends to planning, advertising sales and after-sales service for visitors.
BYD’s initial expansion focused on the automotive market, with its line of electric cars being built as one more and more technologically complex edition in the industry. However, the automotive sector is only one component of BYD’s overall good fortune in many industries around the world.
Its might was on full display in 2020 during the midst of the COVID pandemic. Just three days after COVID first interrupted everyday living, BYD had completed a blueprint for a factory to produce facemasks.
Seven days later, the apparatus was completed. Within 21 days of COVID, the production plant was up and running. Within 24 days, BYD had cemented its position as the world’s leading manufacturer of PPE masks, generating more than one hundred million masks per day for more than 80 countries.
“BYD had never made masks before that time,” Tozer says.
“It’s those little things that show why BYD is such a tough global leader. “
BYD brought the same intensity and passion to create a variety of bus models for the global market. With more than 70,000 people working on studies and design for the company, the company has developed a full range of electric buses, from minibuses to 14. 5m articulated double-decker vehicles and city bus chassis with chassis lowered up to 12. 5m.
With a project to replace the global by creating an entire zero-project ecosystem powered by blank energy, BYD has kept bus production in the middle while continuing to expand into trucks, forklifts, medical vehicles, and rail transportation.
Today, BYD offers public transportation, coaches, and school bus functions globally for its extensive network of operators. This technological progression led BYD to announce in April last year that it would concentrate solely on the production of electric vehicles, marking the end of the production of combustion engine vehicles. Its large presence in the application vehicle sector is now purely electric.
“BYD supplies electric buses to major operators around the world such as the Go-Ahead Group, one of UK’s leading public transport companies, Kinetic, Keolis, Kelsian Group, LTA Singapore, KMB Hong Kong, Alexander Dennis and CDC, a subsidiary of Comfort Del Gro Global,” Tozer says.
“In Australia, we have around 180 buses on the road, partnering with key operators such as Transit Systems, Ventura and Kinetic, to name a few, while we have an e-book of orders for the rest of the year with our local bodybuilder partners.
This global growth has required plenty of catching up. This means BYD has had to continue building factories to accommodate increasing bus and vehicle demands. It now has bus manufacturing facilities in Hungary, the Netherlands, the UK, Brazil, America and China.
At BYD Global’s headquarters in the city of Shenzhen, the site includes several factories and a building encouraged through the U. S. Pentagon, self-catering housing for workers and its own sports clubs.
The site is so large that BYD in 2016 built a SkyRail to bypass the business park at BYD headquarters. Within six months, he succeeded, building the tracks and wagons from scratch, even though he had no experience in building rail transport. .
In 2016, BYD also made its first foray into Australia thanks to a tender from airport shipping company Carbridge for a bus contract for Sydney Airport. After the sale of Carbridge, the rights to BYD’s advertising cars were transferred before ending up with a local agent.
Earlier this year, BYD decided that the most productive way for its long-term operators was to create a fully factory-backed advertising vehicle division, responsible for buses and trucks for the Australian and New Zealand markets.
Tozer’s appointment as BYD Australia’s Director of Commercial Vehicles is part of this Australian change, with 35 years of experience in the industry. Tozer started as an apprentice diesel mechanic at Grenda Bus Service before recently becoming Business Development Manager at Volgren.
His expertise is helping BYD introduce more electric buses in the country. Although his work is primarily focused on the aftermarket, he is already working to bring some of BYD’s most productive global inventions to Australia.
This includes the newest cars presented globally at Busworld in Brussels. At the beginning of October, BYD’s booth at the International Bus and Coach Exhibition hosted the first of two new innovations in electric buses, the BYD eBus B19 and B15.
Coupled with the European debut of BYD’s B12 and DD13 double-decker coaches, those exciting new market entries are expected to match electric bus technology.
Tozer says an impressive component of BYD’s Busworld booth is the B12, which is the first chassis to feature the brand’s revolutionary BYD Blade Battery technology.
“The premiere at Busworld of the new B12 BYD Blade drum chassis is a highlight,” he says.
“It’s an incredible model that’s one tonne lighter than our current chassis and has the ability to have its batteries under the floor line, providing several benefits by significantly lowering the centre of gravity while improving stability and road handling.
“It’s a game-changer and everyone is excited about the benefits of the new BYD Blade Battery technology. “
The secret to this weight loss and increased power lies in the battery technology. For the first time, BYD’s Blade battery is on full display in an electric bus.
Unlike the larger batteries discovered in other electric buses around the world, added to existing BYD models, the BYD Blade battery is composed of ultra-safe thin sheets of lithium iron phosphate that can be compatible with the low terrain of the bus chassis. At the rear of the chassis, the sleek batteries can be split into parts and stacked on top of each other to add more strength to a light weight.
As one of the world’s largest battery manufacturers, this evolution is part of BYD’s journey. BYD’s battery factories are committed to redefining vehicle batteries, and the end result is the latest B12 model capable of traveling up to six hundred kilometers on a single charge.
Although Australia won’t see this technology until 2026, it’s a tantalising temptation of what’s to come for the local market.
“The chassis will have to go through 18 months of testing before it can be announced here,” Tozer explains.
“We will start receiving overdue orders next year and early 2025 before rolling them out in 2026 to the Australian industry. “
The BYD Blade battery has already proven itself, having passed the world-renowned nail penetration test, synonymous with batteries, without any problems. Tozer claims this is due to the fact that thin sheets don’t require as much thermal coverage and involve fewer chemicals, limiting the battery’s thermal runaway option.
BYD is already conquering operators around the world. Last year, leading Norwegian operator Nobina ordered 64 BYD electric buses, while Santiago de Chile won its 800th BYD bus. By the beginning of October this year, 2,000 electric buses were due to be delivered. to Uzbekistan over the next year.
The other benefit is that BYD is the only integral e-drive solution in the bus market, where it designs and manufactures the batteries, drive motors and the control systems of its vehicle, meaning it produces a truly integrated solution with no third party suppliers.
All of this gives Tozer and the newly established BYD Australian team plenty to work with. While the rate of evolution on electric buses may be difficult to keep up with, Tozer says BYD Australia will continue to be at the forefront and work with its customers and local body builders in providing the best solution for the market.
If this focus in Australia aligns with BYD’s acclaimed achievements in many global sectors, adding the bus and coach industry, then we can expect BYD to become a major local player in the near future.
“Since May 2023, BYD set up shop in Australia on its own and that’s already happening,” says Tozer.
“Although those products feature BYD Blade technology, our main focus at BYD Commercial Vehicles Australia and New Zealand is to grow our local aftermarket; We already have a team of seven aftermarket engineers and we are going to expand it in the coming months.
“We’ve heard the market and we understand the shortfall provided by our previous arrangement, so we’re going to knuckle down on that side and focus on it so that we can continue providing the best quality service for BYD customers in Australia and New Zealand.”
Australasia Bus