Cape Town to take delivery of 11 electric buses by year-end
24TH MARCH 2017
BY:
IRMA VENTER
Cape Town’s fleet of 11 electric buses is scheduled for arrival by the end of 2017 and will be “operating by the beginning of 2018, or sooner”, says
Cape Town Transport and Urban Development Authority commissioner
Melissa Whitehead.
The buses will be supplied by Chinese
green energy firm
BYD in a R126-million, three-year deal financed by the City of
Cape Town.
BYD has already supplied a number of electric buses worldwide, including 51 buses to the City of
London.
Apart from the buses,
BYD is also required to provide the City of
Cape Town with charging stations for the buses,
data management systems, spare parts, technical support,
training for the bus drivers and mechanical staff and
fleet maintenance services and to replace the batteries when required.
The purpose of the electric MyCiTi buses is to evaluate the benefits of electric buses as an
environment friendly, alternative fuel option for the MyCiTi bus leet. The city will also test the overall life cycle cost – including procurement, operation and
maintenance – of electric buses, which is said to be half of that of
diesel buses, notes Whitehead.
Ten electric buses will be used on
the N2 MyCiTi Express in
Cape Town. Their competitiveness will be judged relative to ten
diesel buses.
The electric buses are required to travel at least 250 km in traffic before the batteries need recharging.
The eleventh BYD bus will, more than likely, be loaned to the City of Windhoek, notes Whitehead. This bus will go on loan to the Namibian city in an exchange programme that will test the electric bus’s viability in the neighbouring country’s capital city.
Mauritius is also mulling the acquisition of an electric bus fleet.
“I am also talking to
a number of other Southern African countries to determine their need for electric buses,” says Whitehead.
The aim of these discussions is to stimulate demand for
Africa’s first electric bus factory, most likely to be established at the
Atlantis Green Technology Industrial Park, in
Cape Town, says Whitehead.
BYD chairperson
Chuanfu Wang told
Cape Town executive mayor
Patricia de Lille at the C40 Mayors Summit, held in
Mexico in November last year, that the
BYD group will establish an electric bus plant in
Cape Town.
“
BYD is really glad to collaborate with a leading city like
Cape Town in your climate action efforts. In the near future, we are planning to establish a local production plant for our electric buses in
Cape Town. This is not only to help protect the
environment, but will also provide jobs for people in
Cape Town,” stated Wang.
It is expected that the plant could open at the end of 2018, says Whitehead.
Various
BYD products, including electric buses and renewable-
energy products such as
solar panels, will also be manufactured at this plant.
BYD already produces
solar panels in
Durban, but has indicated that the group will close this plant and relocate it to
Cape Town.
The
Cape Town plant could potentially expand to include
forklifts and cars, but only at a later stage, says Whitehead.
BYD is currently working with
South Africa’s Busmark to produce the bus bodies for the
Cape Town electric bus fleet at 70% local content.
In order to offset the
electricity consumed by the electric buses, which is largely
coal-generated, the City of
Cape Town also aims to install
solar power at some of its bus and
maintenance depots, as well as bus stations.
http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/public-transport-2017-03-24