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BYD (Build Your Dreams) is celebrating its 400th bus built at its Lancaster, Calif. manufacturing plant.

The 400th bus is a 60-foot articulated K11M model transit bus built for Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), part of a 20-bus order. The buses will be used to provide transportation for guests traveling between terminals and gates on the Los Angeles International Airport’s airfields.

“The 400th American bus is another great milestone for our Lancaster team,” said BYD North America President Stella Li. “Since delivery of our first American battery-electric bus from Lancaster in 2014, BYD has provided buses to customers in 14 states and four Canadian provinces. We are passionate about our mission to create a cleaner environment here in North America and across the globe.”

In just six years, BYD has grown to become the largest battery electric bus manufacturer in North America, with more than 750 employees. The company has expanded its Lancaster manufacturing plant, a former motorhome manufacturing facility, from 100,000 square feet to over a half million square feet.

In all, BYD has invested more than $250 million in North America, and in 2018 alone, has spent $70 million on components and services from American vendors.

From one bus model under production in 2014, BYD’s product line now includes transit bus models ranging from the 30-foot K7 to the 60-foot K11, and coach models ranging from 23-foot C6 to the double-deck, 45-foot C10MS.

BYD now has more than 50 municipal, transit agency, university, airport, federal and other commercial and private-sector bus customers, including the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, Antelope Valley Transit Authority, Denver RTD, Kansas City International Airport, and Solano County Transit.

BYD and Berkshire Hathaway

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares. It’s an investment that has paid off handsomely. Berkshire’s original investment of $230 million has grown in value almost ten-fold, and is now worth roughly $1.96 billion.

For More on BYD, read the Special Report: BYD, Berkshire’s Tesla.

© 2019 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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China’s BYD has secured the largest ever single order for electric buses in Europe.

The landmark order with Keolis Nederland BV comprises 259 pure-electric, 100% emissions-free BYD eBuses scheduled for programmed delivery from next summer.

Keolis Nederland BV is the Dutch subsidiary of global public transport provider, Keolis.

“This is a momentous occasion for BYD,” said BYD Europe Managing Director, Isbrand Ho, “and also represents a huge commitment to electric mobility since it becomes the largest European fleet ever switched to electric at one time.”

The deal was reached following close cooperation between Keolis and BYD to devise a demanding whole-life package which delivers a total transport solution and takes into account operational needs and passenger comfort requirements.

The deal was confirmed on Friday 6thDecember at Keolis’ head office in Deventer in the Netherlands with the contract being signed by Frank Janssen, the CEO of Keolis Nederland and Isbrand Ho, Managing Director of BYD Europe.

This latest order follows a number of recent significant deals for BYD with major public transport operators right across Europe – further reinforcing BYD’s strong and leading position in Europe where it has made deliveries and taken orders in nearly 60 cities and more than 10 countries, to-date totaling more than 1,200 electric buses.

For Keolis Nederland, BYD’s 8.7-metre midi bus, 12-metre and new 13-metre eBus models will enter service from the end of 2020 on routes throughout the Netherlands’ IJssel-Vecht region, including front-line operations in the municipalities of Zwolle, Apeldoorn and Lelystad. BYD’s 13-metre modelis equipped with new upgraded battery technology to provide extended range and ‘city-to-city’ capability.The majority of the Keolis order comprises 206 of BYD’s best-selling 12-metre model all of which will be equipped with pantographs.

In 2016, the Dutch minister of Traffic and Infrastructure signed a covenant which aims to reduce emission, such as CO2, Nox and PMs by 2025. Keolis has surpassed this target by operating almost emission free straight from the start of the concession.

With its headquarters in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has provided BYD with a staging post to extend its European activities, and has also seen some strategically important orders for the company. Notably in 2012, BYD won its first European order to supply six eBuses to the Dutch national park island of Schiermonnikoog, the first public tender for electric buses in Europe. High profile deals followed soon after, including 35 BYD eBuses for Schipol Airport – the first airport worldwide to adopt airside electric mobility. In just seven years, BYD has delivered electric mobility to Public Transport Operators in towns and cities right across Europe, emerging today as the market-leading eBus brand.

Frank Janssen, CEO Keolis Nederland is delighted and proud to partner with BYD in operating the largest zero emission bus fleet in Europe starting December 2020. “It is another milestone for Keolis Nederland and the Keolis Group in developing and deploying electromobility solutions around the world and it reaffirms our commitment to supporting public transport authorities in the transition to sustainability. We’ve chosen BYD due to our excellent experience with their e-buses. These are a fundamental part in our daily operation to the full satisfaction of our passengers and employees. Furthermore we trust in BYD’s expertise as a manufacturer in developing and maintaining battery-packages.”

“This is another landmark deal for BYD in Europe,” said BYD Europe Managing Director, Isbrand Ho, “but, this is more than simply building and supplying 259 eBuses – significant though that is – we have worked tirelessly with Keolis to provide a complete transport solution. Delivery programmes on this scale,” he said, “can only be achieved through excellent cooperation and by striking up a long-term partnership. Our relationship with Keolis provides an excellent template to explore opportunities with other large fleet operators.”

This announcement of the Keolis order, the largest in European history, further underlines BYD’s credentials as the world’s leading electric bus manufacturer, after last month’s order from public transport operator, TransMilenio SA, in the Columbian capital of Bogotá to supply 379 eBuses scheduled to enter service in September 2020.

BYD and Berkshire Hathaway

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares. It’s an investment that has paid off handsomely. Berkshire’s original investment of $230 million has grown in value almost ten-fold, and is now worth roughly $1.96 billion.

For More on BYD, read the Special Report: BYD, Berkshire’s Tesla.

© 2019 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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China’s BYD could find its growing presence as a supplier of eBuses in the United States cut short if the current version of the National Defense Authorization Act become law.

The NDAA contains a key provision barring federal dollars from being used to purchase passenger rail cars or buses from state-owned or state-controlled enterprises, including BYD, which assembles its buses at its plant in Lancaster, California.

The plant employs some 750 workers, and was recently scheduled for expansion.

Proponents of the bill cite cybersecurity concerns.

BYD has been receiving an increasing number of large order for its eBuses from municipalities, including 130 of its eBuses that were ordered by LADOT for Los Angeles’ “Green New Deal” program, which aims to have the entire LADOT fleet be run with zero-emission buses before 2030.

BYD has already sold 460 eBuses in Southern California alone, and if the NDAA is enacted in its current form the company would be immediately banned from selling to Washington, DC’s Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro). The bill bans both buses and railcars.

“BYD’s electric vehicles are increasingly popular with municipalities, airports and other customers across the United States, and we will work to redouble our sales and continue deliveries of high-quality vehicles to our customers,” BYD said in a statement. “This unfortunate decision rewards a special interest misinformation campaign to squash competition in the electric bus sector and could weaken American competitiveness, threaten hundreds of union jobs and undercut our country’s fight against climate change.”

BYD and Berkshire Hathaway

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares. It’s an investment that has paid off handsomely. Berkshire’s original investment of $230 million has grown in value almost ten-fold, and is now worth roughly $1.96 billion.

For More on BYD, read the Special Report: BYD, Berkshire’s Tesla.

© 2019 David Mazor

Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.