A letter of intent (LOI) has been inked by Eddie Francis, Mayor of Windsor, Canada, to buy up to ten 40-foot electric buses from BYD for transit services.
Bus Design for Windsor City, Canada (Photo: Business Wire)
Through this LOI, Windsor will become the first in the North American region to introduce long-range, all-electric buses. This deal will also help bring BYD bus production to Ontario. This introduction of all-electric buses will serve the roads of both Canada and the US as Transit Windsor runs in Canada and in Detroit.
BYD is currently working on closing certification testing such as CMVSS and FMVSS in North America in 2012. More fleet sales and deliveries are expected from the company following the delivery of buses for Windsor transit services. The company has shipped more than 300 electric buses across the world and has orders to deliver more than 1,300 vehicles this year.
BYD Motors’ President Stella Li, who is also BYD’s Senior Vice President, stated that the BYD iron-phosphate batteries utilized in these all-electric buses are free from toxic electrolytes, caustic materials and heavy metals, which make these batteries as the superior eco-friendly batteries existing in the market. Morever, BYD and Enwin have a master plan to reuse the Windsor bus batteries as fixed Energy Storage Stations after the lifetime of the buses.
Mayor Eddie Francis informed that a major objective is to establish Windsor as one of the first cities in the North American region to use electric buses in transit services and position the city as a center for the advancement, production and commercialization of energy-efficient products, including electric buses.