Tag: BYD Co

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Missouri Latest State to Add BYD’s Pure-Electric Buses

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COMO Connect, the public bus system owned by the City of Columbia, Missouri, is expanding its bus fleet by adding zero-emission, all-electric buses into service starting in June to better serve customers and reduce operational costs.

The three (3), 30-ft, low-floor, all-electric transit buses will be supplied by BYD, the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles, with a battery that provides 144 miles per charge and can be recharged in only two to three hours.

The three, all-electric buses will provide significant cost savings in addition to dramatically improving local air quality by eliminating tailpipe emissions. The emissions benefits of operating one all-electric bus are so great that COMO estimates that it is roughly equivalent to removing at least 70 passenger vehicles from the road daily.

Once in service, COMO Connect’s three electric buses will be equivalent to removing 210 passenger vehicles from the road in the community daily.

“These new all-electric buses match COMO Connect’s goals and vision for creating a transportation system for the future in Columbia,” said Drew Brooks, multi-modal manager for COMO Connect.

“We leased an all-electric bus from BYD earlier as a demonstration and were very pleased with the results. The electric buses provided operational and fuel cost savings, were reliable on our service routes, and eliminated emissions thereby helping to improve our local air quality.”

“BYD’s all-electric buses provide a multitude of benefits to operator and passenger,” said Macy Neshati, vice president of Coach and Bus for BYD. “The operator enjoys having a reliable bus that saves money and the passenger enjoys having a quieter, comfortable bus that is helping the environment by eliminating harmful emissions that cause air pollution.” The buses are equipped with BYD-designed and built Iron-Phosphate batteries, delivering 197 kWh of power that come with a 12 year warranty, the industry’s longest electric battery warranty available.

BYD’s pure electric buses and taxis are currently operating in over 200 cities in 48 countries worldwide, including the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, the UK, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Japan, Thailand, and China.

BYD and Berkshire Hathaway

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares, and today owns roughly 9.1% of the company.

Berkshire’s original investment of $230 million is now worth roughly $1.77 billion.

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

© 2016 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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Minority Stock Positions

Commentary: Will BYD Be Berkshire’s Alibaba?

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No article on Yahoo these days fails to mention the company’s 15% stake in Alibaba. It’s a stock position that has grown so valuable that it’s the tail that literally wags the dog on the valuation of the high-tech company.

Is there an Alibaba in the making for Berkshire Hathaway with Chinese auto and battery maker BYD Company Ltd.?

By that I mean will the value of Berkshire’s share of BYD eclipse the rest of the company?

Well, no, because unlike Yahoo, Berkshire owns assets including insurance companies, railroads, and energy companies that have enormous value.

But, yes, if you are looking for a minority stock position that over time could rival or surpass Berkshire’s huge minority shareholder stakes in Coca-Cola, IBM, or American Express.

How We Got Here

In 2008, at the urging of Berkshire’s Vice-Chairman Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares for $230 million, and today Berkshire owns roughly 9.1% of the company.

It’s a bet that looks better and better every year.

In 2015, BYD became the number one seller of electric cars in the world. It was a dramatic rise for a company that only ranked seventh in 2014.

That’s not all, in April 2016, BYD achieved another major milestone, the production of its 10,000th pure electric bus. The company is thoroughly dominating the rapidly growing market for emissions free buses of all sizes.

An Investment That Eclipses All Others

With a market capitalization of roughly $19.5 billion, that makes Berkshire’s original investment of $230 million worth roughly $1.77 billion.

It’s a phenomenal return in just five years, and BYD’s best days are clearly ahead of it.

Unlike Tesla, which is burning through money, and is in a race to reach ambitious sales goals before it runs out of money, BYD is already profitable.

What’s more, its profits are growing dramatically, despite China’s slowing economy.

BYD is predicting that its first-quarter profit will jump more than 50 percent from the first-quarter 2015. We’re talking profit not just revenue.

Berkshire’s Alibaba-Like Asset

Berkshire’s got some amazing assets, but most of them won’t grow dramatically in the future. GEICO is the second largest auto insurer in the U.S., but its growth at this point will be incremental not logarithmic. Some even question the future of auto insurance with the coming era of self-driving cars. The same goes for BNSF Railway, which as a Class 1 railroad is in a highly regulated industry with only modest growth potential unless anti-trust regulators approve another round of consolidations.

Even the recently completed $37.2 billion acquisition of Precision Castparts, which gives Berkshire an aerospace company poised to take advantage of the growing demand for passenger jets in India and China, has the growth potential of BYD. Precision Castparts will grow based on the estimated need for new aircraft with a total value of $5.6 trillion over the next two decades, but it won’t grow ten-fold.

Unlike these companies, BYD is operating in lightly regulated market sectors. It dominates the pure electric bus market (a market that Tesla isn’t even in), and while it has already sold its 10,000th electric bus, that is still just a drop in the bucket for a total bus market that is expected to reach eight million units by 2018.

In 2018, only a fraction of those buses will be electric, but in another decade or two they all may be, and for good reasons.

Why They Will All Be Electric Buses

Why will they be electric buses? Because they will have to be. In order for cities to meet ambitious carbon emission reduction goals, existing diesel and even hybrid buses will have to be phased out. The pollution numbers tell the tale. In countries like China and India, buses make up a huge percentage of their air pollution.

In China alone, diesel buses make up just 10% of the vehicles on the road but contribute over 30% of city air pollution and GHG emissions.

Visionary Leadership That’s Making BYD Number One

As for leadership, Tesla’s Elon Musk is clearly already one of the most fascinating corporate visionaries of the 21st century, but don’t forget that Charlie Munger hailed BYD’s CEO Wang Chuanfu as “a combination of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Bill Gates.”

He’s already one of China’s richest men.

While Elon Musk has lots of amazing ideas, including hyperloops, and trips to Mars, many of them don’t have a clear path to profitability. Wang Chuanfu has a goal of being number one, and he’s already there.

BYD’s number one in globally in electric car sales, number one in electric bus sales, and they are the world’s largest manufacturer of rechargeable batteries.

BYD is electrifying forklifts, trucks, and a host of other fossil fuel burning vehicles and devices.

They are also building and home scale eclectic battery storage that’s already on the market in Europe and Africa. Tesla gets a lot of attention for their Powerwall, but BYD is in the same market with their B-Box technology.

Berkshire’s $230 million bet on BYD may prove to be its best bet of all-time, as BYD grows into a a global leader that is mentioned in the same breath as Volkswagen and Toyota.

And, since unlike those auto companies it is also involved in IT, photovoltaics, and commercial and residential battery storage, it may just end up being the biggest one of all, which would be very good for Berkshire Hathaway.

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

© 2016 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.

Categories
Minority Stock Positions Stock Portfolio

BYD Achieves 10,000 Pure Electric Buses Milestone

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While Tesla continues to target the mainstream passenger vehicle market as its path to success, Chinese vehicle and battery manufacturer BYD Company Ltd. is making dramatic progress not only in the passenger vehicle market, but also in the electric bus market. It’s a huge market that the company has practically to itself.

BYD’s recently marked the production of its 10,000th pure-electric bus. The milestone was six years in the making.

BYD’s Changsha electric bus factory gives the company the manufacturing capability to meet the needs of China’s growing electric mass transit needs. Air pollution and carbon emissions are the key drivers of the move to pure electric buses. In China, diesel buses make up just 10% of the vehicles on the road but contribute over 30% of city air pollution and GHG emissions.

The market in China alone is huge, and BYD in January 2016 delivered the first of 300 of its BYD K7 buses to the Chinese city of Shanwei, in Guangdong Province. The city plans to have 3,010 pure electric buses in service by 2019.

BYD’s pure electric buses and taxis are currently operating in over 200 cities in 48 countries worldwide, including the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, the UK, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Japan, Thailand, and China.

BYD and Berkshire Hathaway

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares, and today owns roughly 9.1% of the company.

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

© 2016 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.

Categories
Minority Stock Positions Stock Portfolio

BYD Ups Its Foothold in Australia

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BYD Company Ltd., the Chinese battery-maker and vehicle manufacturer that is roughly 10-percent owned by Berkshire Hathaway, is increasing its electric vehicle foothold in Australia.

BYD has become the first Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer to be certified by the Australian Design Rules (ADRs), the country’s stringent technical standards for emissions, vehicle safety and theft resistance.

The company is already in the Australian market, with its pure electric buses in a shuttle service tested for Sidney Airport between December 2014 and May 2015.

It has also sold its pure electric forklift in Sydney and Melbourne.

BYD’s big vehicle news is the introduction of its e6 pure electric crossover for use as taxi.

According to BYD, with the ADRs certification, the BYD e6 taxi got the green light to access the Australian market, meaning that the company’s global electrified public transportation platform now extends to yet another major market.

7+4 Strategy

BYD’s comprehensive “7+4” electrification strategy in the Australia region aims at electrification of all forms of ground transportation: urban bus, coach, taxi, passenger car, urban logistics trucks, construction trucks, and urban sanitation trucks (7), as well as vehicles for warehousing, mining, airports and ports (4).

The company now gets one step closer to fulfilling its lofty electrification plans in a country that prizes sustainable development.

Currently, the BYD e6 and K9 global footprint is present in over 190 cities in 43 countries in all continents.

BYD and Berkshire Hathaway

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares, and today owns roughly 9.1% of the company.

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

© 2016 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.

Categories
Minority Stock Positions Stock Portfolio

BYD Debuts Two New Pure-Electric Cars

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When the electricity goes out in your house, you don’t usually look to your car for emergency backup, but two new cars from BYD provide just that.

Chinese battery maker and electric vehicle manufacturer BYD Company Ltd. has added two new pure-electric Sedans to its lineup of EVs, and both cars are equipped to serve as emergency power sources, or even just power for non-emergency setting such as trips or parties.

Currently marketed solely in China, the Qin EV300, will come in four versions with prices ranging from 259,800 to 309,800 Chinese Yuan; and the e5, coming in three versions with prices ranging from 229,800 to 249,800 Chinese Yuan.

According to the company, it based the recent rollouts on a thorough assessment of what EV potential users value the most, and after finding out that range anxiety is still a major factor in purchase decisions, it provided both models with a 300km driving range, although a potential customer, upon testing the Qin EV300, managed to drive 349.5 km on a single charge.

The Qin EV300 is equipped with BYD’s high-efficiency, high-speed permanent magnet synchronous motor, with a maximum power of 160kW and maximum torque of 310Nm, accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.9 seconds, and features re-generative braking system. The model also features BYD’s signature Insta-Pure Technology, a function that purifies the air in the interior of the vehicle by quickly lowering PM2.5 values.

Emergency Power Supply

Both the Qin EV300 and the e5 are equipped with another of BYD’s signature features: the VtoL function, in which the vehicle serves as a massive mobile electricity supply to power appliances like cookers, refrigerators, power tools and many others, so that users can rely on the vehicle to plan outdoor activities that depend on electricity, or in case of emergencies like power cuts or blackouts.

While BYD has yet to market its cars in the U.S., preferring to focus more on its pure-electric buses in the territory, it has moved into the number one spot worldwide for electric vehicle sales.

BYD and Berkshire Hathaway

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares, and today owns roughly 9.1% of the company.

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

© 2016 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.

Categories
Minority Stock Positions

BYD’s Pure-Electric Buses Hit the Streets in London

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Double-decker buses are synonymous with London, and soon they will be synonymous with clean, pollution-free transportation.

Chinese battery and vehicle manufacturer BYD Co. Ltd. has delivered the first of a fleet of five pure-electric double-decker buses that will shortly be entering service on Route 98 operated on behalf of TfL by Metroline.

BYD is working with TfL and Metroline on an introduction program, which includes driver training and the installation of fast charging equipment at Metroline’s Willesden Bus Garage in north London.

The 100% BYD designed and developed vehicle is 10.2m long, features full air conditioning, and offers seats for a total 54 passengers with a further 27 standees spaces (total passengers: 81).

The bus is powered by BYD’s Iron Phosphate batteries that deliver 345 kWh of power, and can run for up to 190 miles of typical urban driving according to the internationally recognized SORT test conditions.

Recharging the bus takes just four hours and can be completed overnight using low-cost off-peak electricity. The single charge cycle is expected to be more than enough to handle most daily duty cycles.

“The Mayor of London challenged us saying that he did not believe an electric double decker was technically feasible but we took up the challenge and in less than two years created the bus Londoners can see today,” said Isbrand Ho, Managing Director of BYD Europe. “This is not a hybrid bus but a totally emissions free product which will give London a world leading position in its efforts to improve air quality.”

Leon Daniels, TfL’s Managing Director for Surface Transport, said: “BYD are a brilliant supplier. They lead the world in electric bus technology and we thank them for their efforts to make this new double decker a reality.”

BYD and Berkshire Hathaway

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares, and today owns roughly 9.1% of the company.

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

© 2016 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.

Categories
Minority Stock Positions

India Latest Country for BYD’s Pure-Electric Buses

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Bangalore has been dubbed the “Silicon Valley of India,” but it’s also a city choked by air pollution that on some days is twice as bad as Delhi’s notorious pollution.  And as much as 20% of the city’s total exhaust is produced by diesel buses.

Those skies took the first tiny step to becoming cleaner, as Chinese battery and vehicle manufacturer BYD Co. Ltd. has sold its first pure-electric bus to the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation.

“Operating electric buses not only to initialize and support new technologies, shows our respect to the city and urban residents with our social and environmental responsibility,” stated the Transportation Minister.

Although the electric bus comes with a higher initial price tag, officials expressed confidence that the total cost of ownership for the vehicle would make initial investments well-worth the price.

“The list of vehicle benefits is long; including the fact that it is quiet, does not pollute, and has low operational and maintenance costs. The bus has been operating successfully in various European countries besides China,” officials said.

Lower Cost of Fuel

Given the difference of the electricity price and diesel price, the BYD electric bus is not only zero emission but also has higher economic value.

Traditional diesel buses consume 0.55 L of diesel per kilometer in India, but by comparison, BYD’s 40 foot all-electric bus only consumes about 1 Kwh electric per kilometer (with no HVAC). The results are that millions in cost savings can be realized in Bangalore.

Last year, the Indian government reviewed the “national electric vehicle plan (2020)” and announced that India planned to put in place as many as 6-7 million new energy vehicles by 2020. The national heavy industry ministry is responsible for implementing the plan.

“The ambitious plan will promote the development of new energy automobile industry, the industry enterprises with large scale operating experience and strong technical strength, such as BYD will benefit the most,” a Hong Kong based observer said.

BYD and Berkshire Hathaway

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares, and today owns roughly 9.1% of the company.

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

© 2016 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.

Categories
Minority Stock Positions

SolTrans Orders Pure-Electric Buses From BYD

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Chinese battery and vehicle manufacturer BYD Co. Ltd. continues to make advances in the U.S. bus market, picking up its first pure-electric bus orders for the public transit system serving the southern California cities of Vallejo and Benicia.

The Solano County Transit (SolTrans) in Vallejo, California, has ordered two forty-foot zero emission electric buses from BYD’s U.S. division, BYD Coach & Bus. The buses will go into service in the summer of 2016.

BYD notes its K9 40-foot bus is the most popular electric bus platform in the world, with more than 6,000 now running in revenue service in cities from Los Angeles, to London and Hong Kong.

Public transit systems are increasingly turning to pure-electric buses as they work to meet stricter carbon emission goals. The prior generation of hybrid buses are now aging out of service, and BYD’s pure-electric buses are ready replacements.

“This is a historic moment for Solano County,” said Mona Babauta, Executive Director of SolTrans. “This decision, supported by the SolTrans board of directors, is an excellent example of the forward-thinking attitude towards technology and transportation that contributes to making Solano County a great place to live. ”Our decision to go electric includes taking positive steps towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing our dependence on petroleum, and cleaner air,” continued Babauta. In addition “these buses are whisper-quiet, and will drastically reduce noise pollution along their daily routes.”

BYD’s Battery Electric bus employs many advanced technologies developed in-house by a staff of more than 15,000 R&D engineers, and includes the BYD Iron-Phosphate battery which boasts the only 12-year-battery warranty in the industry. Combined with BYD’s proprietary in-wheel hub motors and regenerative braking system, the BYD battery electric bus offers the lowest life cycle cost of ownership. The BYD electric bus delivers a host of operational and environmental benefits for public transit riders, bus operators and residents of the community — it is very quiet and ensures a comfortable ride without vibrations, jerks or the noise associated with the conventional buses and combustion engines. The bus can also drive for more than 155 miles, even in heavy city traffic, on a single charge.

As of April 1st, 2015, BYD bus fleets had completed greater than 100 million miles in revenue service, and have been evaluated by more than 150 cities in 36 countries around the world.

To date, BYD has built over 7,000 electric buses globally, making it by far the most popular electric transit vehicle on the planet.

BYD and Berkshire Hathaway

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares, and today owns roughly 9.1% of the company.

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

© 2016 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.

Categories
Minority Stock Positions Stock Portfolio

BYD’s B-Box Takes on Tesla’s Powerwall

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Tesla gained a lot of attention in May of 2015 when it announced its Powerwall home battery, a rechargeable 7-10 kwh lithium-ion battery that could be used by solar panel owners to store power when the sun doesn’t shine. For some, it pointed the way towards living completing off the grid. Tesla is not the only company eyeing the home electric power storage market.

BYD Co. Ltd. – the world’s largest supplier of rechargeable batteries – and GoodWe Power Supply Technology Co. Ltd. have announced the full compatibility of BYD’s B-Box Modular Energy Storage System with GoodWe’s ES and BP Series Inverters to provide households with efficiency in home energy storage.

Unlike Tesla, which uses lithium-ion batteries, BYD’s B-Box uses BYD’s fire-safe, completely recyclable and long-cycle Iron-Phosphate battery, which it notes features high thermal stability.

According to BYD, the B-Box features a wide range of output power to meet heavy load applications, high discharge currency, free and flexible utilization for off-grid and on-grid usage, as well as worldwide applicability.

As a modular energy storage system, the BYD B-Box features additional usage freedom and flexibility with the key advantage of easy expansion. In the B-BOX 10.0, each module has a 2.5KWh storage capacity, and the box can house up to four modules, for a maximum of 10KWh capacity. The B-Box10.0 can also be laid out in parallel, reaching a maximum capacity of 80KWh. BYD has also launched the B-BOX 12.8, which can reach a maximum capacity of 409kwh when paralleled with multiple boxes.

The BYD B-BOX is already on sale in many European countries including Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, as well as in Australia and Africa.

As BYD moves forward, Tesla has scaled its highly-touted home power storage plans, dropping it previously announced but never marketed 10 kwh Powerwall. Tesla instead will market only the 7 kwh Daily Powerwall.

BYD and Berkshire Hathaway

In 2008, Berkshire Hathaway bet on BYD’s potential, purchasing 225 million shares, and today owns roughly 9.1% of the company.

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

© 2016 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.

Categories
Minority Stock Positions

BYD Receives Big Pure-Electric Bus Order from AVTA

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The Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA), which serves some 450,000 residents of the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale, California, and the unincorporated portions of northern Los Angeles County, has ordered up to 85 pure-electric buses from China’s BYD Company Limited.

The buses will be built at BYD’s manufacturing facility in Lancaster, California.

Berkshire Hathaway owns roughly 9.1% of the company, and Berkshire’s stake is worth roughly $12.3 billion.

“BYD Coach and Bus is proud to partner with AVTA on its groundbreaking decision to completely electrify its fleet,” said Stella Li, president of BYD Motors. “With more than 6,000 electric buses deployed world wide and 90 million miles of dependable service already accumulated, we know that our technology will help AVTA save money and improve local air quality. Pure-electric powered transportation is no longer in the future – it’s here now. I hope other transit agencies in California and across the country take note and follow the example AVTA has set today.”

AVTA notes that it is anticipating a cost savings as a result of electrifying its fleet. Over the lifetime of the new electric bus fleet, the transit agency forecasts it could save more than $46 million compared to an all diesel bus fleet, equivalent to $46,000 per bus per year in savings. And, by reducing dependence on foreign oil imports, AVTA will no longer be subject to oil price volatility for its bus fleet. This will help create greater stability for budget forecasting for the fleet manager – an important factor for a public agency.

The AVTA expects to take delivery of 29 electric buses within the next 12 months and is working to secure additional grant funding from the Air Resources Board to purchase another 17 buses.

“This is a historic day for AVTA which has been working diligently to secure grant funding to purchase these state-of-the- art zero-emission vehicles,” said Len Engel, executive director of AVTA. “We are proud to be the first transit system to adopt a goal of ‘100% Green in 2018’ and we look forward to leading the nation toward a new alternative in public transportation.”

Additional benefits AVTA will see as a result of electrifying its entire fleet include:

• Noise Pollution Reduction: noise pollution will be reduced by 50 percent, making it a more pleasant ride for bus operators and transit passengers.

• Emissions Reductions: AVTA’s all-electric fleet will provide elimination of CO2, NOx, PM10 and PM2.5, thereby improving air quality and positively impacting human health.

• Safer Work Environment for Technicians: The electric batteries are safe, thermal runaway proof, non-toxic, and maintenance free. There are no diesel or diesel emission fluids needed for bus maintenance, providing a safer and healthier working environment for vehicle technicians.

BYD’s Pure-Electric Buses Around the Globe

BYD’s electric buses have been hot sellers not only in China, but around the world, with orders from the U.S, Brazil, Columbia, England, Malaysia and Thailand.

In September 2015, BYD scored a massive order in the U. S. from the state of Washington. BYD won a contract from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) for up to 800 pure electric buses.

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

© 2016 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.