By the way of Busworld show in Brussels, it was said that the number of all-electric buses deployed in Europe increased over five years from around 200 to 2,200 vehicles.
While we appreciate the growth (it could be worse - just look at the U.S.), it seems that Europe, despite its highly competitive bus market and strict environmental requirements, was left so far behind by China that it's hard to even compare the two.
The EV bus counter in China is a few hundred thousand!
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The biggest player in China - Yutong, already sold more than 120,000 battery-electric buses, reaching an output of almost 25,000 annually.
The second-biggest is BYD with cumulative sales of over 50,000. Even without checking other, smaller manufacturers, the Yutong-BYD duo alone is at over 170,000!
"The Chinese Yutong company delivers almost 25,000 new energy buses a year. That's equivalent to 375 per day. In 2018, Yutong built 60,868 buses, including 24,748 'new energy' buses. 7216 electrically powered buses were built and 589 of these have been on the road in Europe ever since. Worldwide, more than 120,000 Yutong electric buses are operating in more than 380 cities; resulting in a global market share of 15% for Yutong. For nine consecutive years, Yutong was the largest seller of new energy buses. With the U12 and the T13, Yutong has designed buses specifically for the European market.
Eight years ago, BYD was the first exhibitor at Busworld (Kortrijk) to present an electrically powered bus. BYD prides itself on more than ten years of experience in building electrically powered buses and on more than a quarter of a century of craftsmanship in battery technology. BYD profiles itself as a total supplier that also provides, if necessary, the supply and installation of a solar park to generate green energy. Since the start of BYD in Europe, more than 50,000 electric buses have been delivered, most of them in Scandinavia and Spain. Meanwhile, BYD has its own factories in Hungary and France (Beauvais) and is collaborating closely with European suppliers, universities and transport companies in order to gain more knowledge about the European market."
Well, it seems that Chinese manufacturer have a significant edge over the rest of the world in terms of volume, so the only way to compete will be higher quality and buses better adapted to regional needs.
Source: Busworld via Green Car Congress
