Orders for 13 BYD 8.75m pure electric midibuses – a new model that BYD unveiled at Busworld Show in October 2016 – have been placed by four operators in the Piedmont Region of Italy.
Two two-door low-entry buses have two battery packs to deliver 174 kWh, giving an in-service range of 150-200km. The passenger capacity is 58
The buses, being built in China, will be delivered in the second half of 2018.
GTT, the Turin operator is ordering eight midibuses (which will join its fleet of 20 12m BYD ebuses), AMAG in Alessandria is taking two as is BusCompany, the operator in nearby Saluzzo and CHIESA in Carmagnola is ordering one.
“These orders are doubly significant for BYD: they further under line our growing position in the important Italian bus market where we are making progress in the face of strong competition and they also represent a vote of confidence in our latest model, the Midibus,” says Isbrand Ho, Managing Director, BYD Europe.
“In fact, in this month alone we are able to announce orders for our largest ever vehicles – two 18m articulated ebuses – from our most northerly customer, Nobina in Norway, as well as these 13 vehicles – our smallest model – for our most southerly mainland European customers in Piedmont.”
He adds: "Whether its maximum capacity in a cold climate or manoeuvrable ebuses capable of servicing confined streets in historic southern cities, BYD has the right product.”
